That is what Glenn English, the CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is claiming about Congressman Jim Cooper (D-Nashville). English was testifying at a congressional oversight committee hearing about some of the practices of a Texas co-op. Rep. Cooper asked him about some information that was on the associations password protected website. At that time, English informed Cooper that he accessed that website in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and was under investigation by the FBI for doing so. That pretty well shut down the committee hearing.
NRECA officials say Cooper had requested proprietary information off that website and was told he couldn’t have it. Next thing they knew, he published the information in a paper he wrote for the Harvard Law Review, and footnoted the password-protected website.
I spoke with Cooper via satellite about an hour ago. He says the allegations are laughable. He got the password and username from a high up co-op official and his use was legit. He says he hasn’t been contacted by the FBI about any investigation. He says the information on the website should be available to everyone, since the users own the co-op.
We’ll see how this one develops. Gotta go and present my story on the news.
