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Comment by _yosefk | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have a theory of why she did it? I mean, I can imagine using Gmail instead of corporate email if the latter doesn't really work and you can't do anything about it - definitely not the case here though. This prompts one to consider a more substantial motive than "getting a working email server" - perhaps hiding something from someone else working for the government - but to add up, it has to be worth the risk, and it has to be the least risky way of doing it.

So why did she do it? Or rather, what could plausibly be the reason?

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So why did she do it? Or rather, what could plausibly be the reason?

Why would you rule out plain ol' laziness and poor judgement?

Remember, the Clinton family already had the private email server in question, and Hillary's Blackberry was set up to use it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_email_controve...

Odds are good she just didn't want to be inconvenienced and didn't recognize the ramifications of that decision.

Edit:

The cited article goes into more detail:

http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/we-now-know-more-about-why-c...

Here’s the results of our meeting yesterday… as I had been speculating, the issue here is one of personal comfort … S [Secretary Clinton] does not use a personal computer so our view of someone wedded to their email (why doesn’t she use her desktop when in SCIF?) doesn’t fit this scenario … during the campaign she was urged to keep in contact with thousands via a BB … once she got the hang of it she was hooked … now everyday [sic], she feels hamstrung because she has to lock her BB up … she does go out several times a day to an office they have crafted for her outside the SCIF and plays email catch up … Cheryl Mills and others who are dedicated BB addicts are frustrated because they too are not near their desktop very often during the working day

So there you have it. Basic laziness combined with stupidity and, I think, a pretty hefty dose of hubris.

The Hanlon Dodge!

> By shifting blame from a locus where it would be attributed to malice, to one where it can plausibly be attributed to incompetence, the severity of penalties incurred is lowered.

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/10/14/the-gervais-principle-v...

Suggestion: start going to murder trials. Every time someone gets sentenced to manslaughter instead of murder, shout "the Hanlon Dodge!".

I'm sure the judge will appreciate your insight into jurisprudence.

Basically, the Clintons are waist deep on all kinds of dirty business. It wasn't just her personal email that were in that location or on that server. Other reports connect their Foundation, various staffers, and so on to those I.P.'s. The thing is that people like them like to be in control of their activities and secrets. They might think, absent Snowden leaks or something, that just having their people possess, host, and control the email achieves something to that regard. Maybe it even did.

Further obfuscating their schemes, being control freaks, and convenience all together are my theory. Fits their prior activity.

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