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Governator, Rival Spar Over Audio
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-09-13
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The campaign manager for Democrat Phil Anglides, a challenger for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, admitted the campaign downloaded an audio file from the governor's web site and passed it along to the Los Angeles Times.
 | | Harsh Words in a Schwarzenegger Audio File |  |
Schwarzenegger's comments about Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia became news after the Times published them, but Cathy Calfo, Anglides' campaign manager, said the audio files in question were not obtained in any illicit way.
An AP report about the incident, over which Schwarzenegger publicly apologized for his comments, cited Calfo in saying the audio file could be found on the Governor's website along with other publicly available content:
"It was provided on the Web site - no hacking, no password, no expertise required," she said during an afternoon news conference.
A member of Schwarzenegger's staff remained unimpressed with Calfo's comments:
Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt said the Angelides campaign had behaved badly, first in obtaining the audio and then in furnishing it to the newspaper.
"It's wrong, it's unethical, and it's a very big deal," he said.
The two sides argued over whether or not someone accessing the file should have seen a popup warning about obtaining the private file. The Anglides campaign followed a link from a press release to where the audio files could be found.
Schwarzenegger's comments that caused the uproar centered on Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia. While discussing Republican legislators during a speechwriting session, Schwarzenegger and others present speculated on whether Garcia is Cuban or Puerto Rican:
Schwarzenegger says, "They are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."
The incident should make Schwarzenegger aware that his webmasters do not understand site security very well. Just because something is private doesn't mean people won't access it if they can. If something needs to be password-protected or otherwise secured from improper access, it should be guarded explicitly.
Especially if it is something politically juicy that will make headlines.
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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Phil Anglides
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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