> Despite mounting public backlash, Missouri Gov. Michael Parson isn’t backing down from threatening to prosecute a journalist for accessing personal information of Missouri teachers to expose a security lapse in the state’s website.
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> Yet, the governor’s office continues to contend Renaud is open to prosecution for his actions. An email to The Record from Kelli Jones, communications director for the governor’s office, said an investigation into Renaud’s actions is ongoing, but described his action as a “hack” that was more than just “a right click,” and that Renaud broke Missouri law. “The facts are that an individual accessed source code and then went a step further to convert and decode that data in order to obtain Missouri teachers’ personal information,” Jones wrote in an email.
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> “A hacker is someone who gains unauthorized access to information or content,” Parson said during a recent press conference. “This individual did not have permission to do what they did." He said Renaud was simply attempting to "embarrass the state" and "sell headlines." "We will not let this crime go unpunished," Parson said.
https://stlrecord.com/stories/610107500-we-will-not-let-this...
I think the better route is impeachment for failing to take care that the laws are faithfully executed and abuse of office. But it's not clear that Missouri provides a way for the newspaper or any individual to force that issue.
Realistically, there's an IT executive in the Missouri government who screwed up, and the newspaper should be suing the state for criminal infosec practices (they did, after all, leak individual SSNs).
So far all I've seen here is the governor repeatedly make a fool of himself while the rest of the state is backing away slowly from the crazy old man.
The STL Dispatch actually really wants the state to try to sue here, and I don't think Parsons quite appreciates just how much trouble his statements can get him in.