WASHINGTON: A TV station owned by Fox Broadcasting Company has purchased two BlackBerrys from the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign that contain private information related to their campaign.

A reporter for WTTG bought the two BlackBerry devices containing confidential information including the cell number of a former Virginia governor from the campaign's "gone out of business" sale at their headquarters in Virginia.

By the time the reporter got to the sale, most of the good items file cabinets, white boards, sofas were gone, the station reported. There were laptops priced at $400 (Rs 19,000) to $600 (Rs 29,000), which according to the campaign staff would be sold after the hard drives were cleared.

Just Rs 964!
And then there were the BlackBerry phones, $20 (Rs 964) a piece. The station bought two and found that one of them contained 50 phone numbers for people connected to the campaign, as well as hundreds of e-mails from early September until a few days after the election.

The station reported that the e-mails offered "an insider's look at how grassroots operations work, full of scheduling questions and cries for support". Most of the numbers were private cell phones for campaign leaders, politicians, lobbyists and journalists.

The second device contained 300 contacts, including former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore. "It makes me uncomfortable... I gave the information to McCain headquarters, and to have it sold is bothersome," said Gilmore.

The station called a McCain-Palin campaign worker, who said, "It was an unfortunate staff error and procedures are being put in place to ensure all information is secure".