Hillary Clinton: Private email server 'a matter of convenience'

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Hillary Clinton said her use of a personal email account during her time as secretary of state followed State Department regulations and was a matter of convenience.

"Looking back, it would've been smarter to use two devices," Clinton said at a press conference after her speech at the United Nations Tuesday.

Clinton has faced harsh criticism from Republicans as well as some Democrats for her use of a personal account on the clintonemail.com domain operated from a private server shared with former President Bill Clinton.

Professor Darren Hayes, director of cybersecurity at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science, questioned the idea of operating a private email server. "I don't know anybody who goes to these lengths," Hayes said, adding that the move could have been a response to concerns of an insider threat on the State Department's servers in the wake of the Chelsea Manning, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden leaks.

Personal email accounts of government officials are bound by privacy laws, while correspondence among .gov accounts immediately becomes public record.

Clinton explained the vast majority of her emails went to .gov accounts, ensuring they would become public record, and that she voluntarily released 30,000 of 60,000 emails on the clintonemail.com server. She also asked the State Department to make all her emails available to the public, giving "unprecedented insight" into a high government official's daily duties.

Hayes said the voluntary release "doesn't seem like any kind of transparency" due to the lack of independent oversight on the choice of emails released.

The 30,000 unshared emails, characterized by Clinton as private, were allegedly deleted.