Clinton's Server Error

Jack Gillum and Ted Bridis report at AP:

The computer server that transmitted and received Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails - on a private account she used exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state - traced back to an Internet service registered to her family's home in Chappaqua, New York, according to Internet records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives. It also would distinguish Clinton's secretive email practices as far more sophisticated than some politicians, including Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, who were caught conducting official business using free email services operated by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

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Operating her own server would have afforded Clinton additional legal opportunities to block government or private subpoenas in criminal, administrative or civil cases because her lawyers could object in court before being forced to turn over any emails. And since the Secret Service was guarding Clinton's home, an email server there would have been well protected from theft or a physical hacking.

But homemade email servers are generally not as reliable, secure from hackers or protected from fires or floods as those in commercial data centers. Those professional facilities provide monitoring for viruses or hacking attempts, regulated temperatures, off-site backups, generators in case of power outages, fire-suppression systems and redundant communications lines.

Gabriel Debenedetti reports at Politico:

Within hours of a report that Clinton had relied heavily on her personal email address while serving as secretary of state, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican eyeing 2016, tweeted to demand that she release all her emails. By Tuesday morning, the GOP opposition group America Rising filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the State Department, requesting copies of emails sent to Clinton.

In a sense, the situation bears some resemblance to the case of Romney and his tax returns. Repeated demands from Democrats — and some Republicans — that the former private equity executive disclose his returns hindered the GOP nominee’s campaign in 2012. It took him until September 2012 to release his 2011 documents, by which point Democrats had successfully painted him as an out-of-touch plutocrat.