A Blackberry containing sensitive information belonging to the now-defunct presidential campaign of John McCain has made its way into the hands of a Fox 5 reporter, who was able to purchase the unwiped device for a mere $20.

The Blackberry, which was sold this week during a liquidation sale, contained some 50 phone numbers of people connected to the campaign and hundreds of emails that spanned from September until a few days following the November 4 election.

"Given the way the campaign was run, this is not a surprise," a staffer contacted by Fox 5 said (http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Politics/Detail;jsessionid=486251F0D62FE4E5CC0E774BF78B77D2?contentId=8055902&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.14.1&sflg=1).

There's another reason it doesn't come as a shock that the electronic device was sold without first being purged of its digital secrets: After all, McCain in July confessed (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/us/politics/13mccain.html) he was still "learning to get online" and "becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need."

We only wonder what's still stored on the laptops that sold for $600. ®