Want to get down to the bottom of the ongoing spat between NBC News and conservative group Americans for Limited Government? Well, the truth is out there, but it may never be found.
Late last week, Americans for Limited Government charged NBC News with having an anti-Semitic “culture.” ALG alleged that NBC News producer Jane Stone sent ALG Director of Media Outreach Alex Rosenwald an email saying: “Bite me Jew Boy.” NBC News claims that Stone’s email included only the sentence: “Take me off this list!”
Unfortunately, even if both parties release files documenting the email exchange, the truth may never be clear due to the potential for forgery. Since server logs are written in plain text, a person with relatively elementary skills could easily alter server logs. “There is no way to ever be absolutely, positively sure that NBC sent the email – anything can be forged, anything! And that’s a problem with the digital medium,” asserted Kris Koiner, an expert in computer networks and architecture.
However, if NBC or ALG release their server logs, as they may do this week, there are a couple of things to examine:
“Server logs contain the size of the email sent – the size of the email is related to the number of characters in the message. If the size and the number of characters in the alleged email match, then additional evidence is offered to support the party’s claim,” explains Jacob Sheehy, a server administrator. Since “Take me off this list!” and “Bite me Jew Boy!” contain different numbers of characters, either NBC or ALG could release server logs that reflect the appropriate message size.
Further, if the email originated from an NBC server, the header should indicate communication between NBC’s outgoing mail servers and ALG’s incoming mail servers and their corresponding IP addresses (see an example below).
If both parties decide to release their server logs, certain steps could be taken to examine them for inconsistencies. In the end, however, if both ALG and NBC release server logs that reflect their claims, then we return to the ongoing standoff.
Part of an email header sent between two of my email accounts.
NBC logo copyright NBC Universal.
12 responses so far
1 Derek // Sep 28, 2009 at 8:17 am
Thanks for sinking your teeth into the big issues Tim.
2 joedee1969 // Sep 28, 2009 at 9:55 am
It is big in the big picture derek. It is this kind of thing we have on the right that hurts us with free thinking people:
http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/09/where-is-all-the-intellectual-fire-power/
3 balconesfault // Sep 28, 2009 at 10:06 am
The really weird thing here is that while the e-mail addy is arosenwald@getliberty.org … the e-mail chain that supposedly shows Stone tossing her slur has a return address:
From: Bill Wilson
Why does Alex Rosenwald send out his e-mails under the name “Bill Wilson”?
This looks a lot like a group that really doesn’t get much attention … suddenly doing what it takes to get a lot of attention.
But that’s kind of the story on the right, these days. Note the popularity of Beck?
4 Tim Mak // Sep 28, 2009 at 10:13 am
Balconesfault: Bill Wilson is the President of ALG, Alex Rosenwald is his media outreach director – Rosenwald will send out press releases in Wilson’s name, and the reply-to will be his own email address.
5 Derek // Sep 28, 2009 at 10:27 am
joedee1969 this is why the party is so easily framed as the party of No now. It is limited to rejecting everything, while at the same time offering nothing, no ideas. Instead we have losers like Beck and Limbaugh representing the party, taking the easy route of offering up insults and conspiracy theories, rather than rational alternatives. It will be a long time in the desert I’m afraid, until the screamers are all whined out.
6 EscapeVelocity // Sep 28, 2009 at 11:46 am
Anti Semitism is running wild on the Left!
7 balconesfault // Sep 28, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Anti Semitism is running wild on the Left!
LOL _ “on the left”?
You’re talking the news division that just hired Jenna Hager (nee Bush) to be a correspondent?
That has aired the following recent examples of “liberal bias”?
Sept. 24
In a segment on conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, NBC correspondent Mara Schiavocampo reported on O’Keefe’s hidden camera investigations into ACORN but omitted key facts about the controversy that undermine his credibility. Schiavocampo ignored that O’Keefe falsely claimed that he was never turned away from ACORN offices; that despite claiming to be “absolutely independent,” a conservative donor reportedly funded some of his past films; and that O’Keefe was accused by a friend of doctoring transcripts from a previous project.
Sept 25
On Wednesday’s Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams — who, in a 2004 interview for C-SPAN, said it was his “duty to listen to Rush” — used the exact same language as Limbaugh in comparing the U.N. General Assembly meeting to the Star Wars “bar scene.”
NBC is not “liberal”.
8 Peacocks And The Punk’d « Around The Sphere // Sep 28, 2009 at 3:38 pm
[...] Tim Mak at New [...]
9 adslwirelessrouter // Sep 29, 2009 at 1:26 am
[...] NBC <b>News</b> Emailgate: The Truth May Never Be Known [...]
10 Jim // Sep 29, 2009 at 1:29 am
Sweet Mother Of God, one day we’ll be allowed to stop applying the suffix “gate” to everything untoward that goes on in this country.
11 Jim // Sep 29, 2009 at 1:32 am
I mean aren’t they?
12 Jim // Sep 29, 2009 at 2:53 am
Here’s what I’ve been listening to recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syTV4poRQSo&feature=related
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