UK Politician Criticised For Using Hotmail 151
nk497 writes "The UK justice secretary Jack Straw has been criticised for using Hotmail as his official government email account after he apparently fell foul of a Nigerian spammer in a phishing attack. A security researcher said using such an account not only left the government in security trouble, but meant any emails sent could not be necessarily accessed via the Freedom of Information Act."
Re:Jack Straw stranded (Score:1, Funny)
The real question is if he was stuck in nigeria. Would anybody really want to bring him back.
so there was no risk.
Re:oh my! (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, the Sensor Ship, that must be Jack and Jacqui's new top secret surveillance vessel!
You don't have the cognitive skills required!
Let me correct that for you:
You don't have the cognitive skills required to use the preview button!
Re:Jack Straw stranded (Score:5, Funny)
Jack Straw stranded in Nigeria? It's more likely than you think.
Nah, that's just wishful thinking
Wrong scam... (Score:5, Funny)
I'd pay Nigerians to *keep* Jack Straw. As would a lot of people. Thank god we can vote him out, and get in... hmmm... well...
Re:Jack Straw stranded (Score:5, Funny)
Jack Straw stranded in Nigeria? It's more likely than you think.
Given the proximity to reality most of them seem to exist in, stranded in Narnia is more plausible.
Re:Not government account (Score:5, Funny)
You have to get elected. I'm assuming that you lose all your real friends, and all the fake ones will be happy to contact you.
Re:Not government account (Score:5, Funny)
How remarkably clever of you, especially as Gmail only entered it's initial invitation-only beta in 2003...
Re:Not government account (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, but he's a union employee, and Parliament is a union shop. You can only get members of the Labor or Tory unions in his job, so we're pretty much stuck with him.
Re:A plan with no drawbacks... (Score:2, Funny)
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
Re:Not government account (Score:3, Funny)
And so, equally, shouldn't be disclosed to a foreign corporation, which is what happens if you are storing them on a Microsoft-owned and controlled mail server. If I found out that my doctor or lawyer was storing my case details in Google Docs I would be equally appalled.
MPs can claim around £30K in expenses per year (last I checked, which was almost a decade ago, probably more now) for their constituency office. If the parliamentary Labour party can't manage to run a mail server for their members then it adds to the body of evidence that they can't organise a piss-up in a brewery[1] and shouldn't be running the country.
[1] Actually, this is much harder that it sounds, due to various health and safety rules. It's best to find a pub attached to a brewery and organise the piss-up there.
Re:Not government account (Score:3, Funny)
... the "high-tech crime unit" (which still puzzles me... do they solve or commit high-tech crime.
The answer is yes. Next question, please.
Ob Yes Minister quote (Score:5, Funny)
In summary, Jack Straw has many hats, and the email address he uses should depend on the hat he is wearing at the time.
"And which hat are you talking through now, Minister?"
Re:Wrong scam... (Score:3, Funny)
I loved the BBC radio report that went something like this (from memory):
"Government officials said that nobody was duped by the emails.
Indeed. Nobody sent money to free him."
Ob Yes Minister quote x2 (Score:5, Funny)
Jim: Yes, isn't that rather awkward for you.
Sir Humphrey: Not if one is in two minds.
Bernard: Or has two faces.
Re:Not government account (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe he has several accounts, and was using an "account decade."