Hackers claim break-in to Palin's e-mail account

Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.  "This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement. The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press yesterday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.  The disclosure yesterday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago -- prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate -- after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides. One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin. Another of the e-mails apparently revealed yesterday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt Gov Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.