Speculation continues to surround a lewd photograph sent from Congressman Anthony Weiner's Twitter account Saturday.
The photo showing a man's bulging underpants was sent to Seattle-based college student Gennette Nicole Cordova directly from the Democratic Congressman's account. The photo was taken from the waist down, and as such the face of the man in the photo was not visible.
The photo was deleted immediately.
The tweet was first reported Saturday by BigGovernment.com, a conservative run website. A spokesman for the New York representative says the tweet was perpetrated by a hacker, though offered no further explanation of how it occurred.
Weiner, D-NY, later posted a tweet referring to the "underpants post" asking whether his kitchen blender would "attack" him next.
Tweet recipient, Cordova, 21, blames an anonymous person who she says "had harassed me many times after the congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago," before claiming in a written statement. "There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me."
Given his position, hacking Weiner's account would amount to a federal crime, and the FBI would be called in to investigate. Blogger skeptics of the representative's hacking claim were quick to point out Rep. Weiner has made no announcement of any such investigation, and point instead to how easy it is to accidentally tweet to the public a message or picture that a sender meant to be a DM -- or direct message. Others wondered why Congressman Weiner was following a college-aged girl on Twitter to begin with.
Regardless of who is to blame for the tweet, Politico.com notes the Weiner incident further exemplifies the dwindling privacy had by politicians as a result of electronic communication.
The site cites similar instances of political careers falling victim to electronic communication mishaps. In November of 2010, a hacker who broke into then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email account in 2008 was sentenced to a year in prison. Earlier this year, Weiner's colleague Rep. Chris Lee, a Repubican, resigned amid a media firestorm that was sparked when he was found to have sent a shirtless photo to a woman he met on Craigslist.
The photo showing a man's bulging underpants was sent to Seattle-based college student Gennette Nicole Cordova directly from the Democratic Congressman's account. The photo was taken from the waist down, and as such the face of the man in the photo was not visible.
The photo was deleted immediately.
The tweet was first reported Saturday by BigGovernment.com, a conservative run website. A spokesman for the New York representative says the tweet was perpetrated by a hacker, though offered no further explanation of how it occurred.
Weiner, D-NY, later posted a tweet referring to the "underpants post" asking whether his kitchen blender would "attack" him next.
Tweet recipient, Cordova, 21, blames an anonymous person who she says "had harassed me many times after the congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago," before claiming in a written statement. "There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me."
Regardless of who is to blame for the tweet, Politico.com notes the Weiner incident further exemplifies the dwindling privacy had by politicians as a result of electronic communication.
The site cites similar instances of political careers falling victim to electronic communication mishaps. In November of 2010, a hacker who broke into then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email account in 2008 was sentenced to a year in prison. Earlier this year, Weiner's colleague Rep. Chris Lee, a Repubican, resigned amid a media firestorm that was sparked when he was found to have sent a shirtless photo to a woman he met on Craigslist.