George Bush's Emails Hacked: What Happened to Ethics?

From Paul Farhi at the Washington Post:

The Smoking Gun published apparently private Bush family photos from the hacker’s cache, such as a shot of George H.W. Bush sitting up in his hospital bed in December (the photo was taken down a few hours after it appeared). It also quoted from e-mails that revealed deep family concerns about the elder Bush’s health, including one from George W. Bush seeking input from his relatives for a eulogy to his father. Further, it posted images of paintings made by the younger Bush that he had sent to his sister Dorothy, including paintings of a man showering and one in a bathtub.

The Smoking Gun went way out of bounds here. There is no journalistic value in publishing such private communications. No public policy is affected by these emails.