This is the best case version (for her), and what her camp wants people to believe. Its hard to see that it's true though. The IG report is pretty clear that she willfully violated recommendations and warnings about security.
Perhaps she wasn't furtively planning to take over the world, but the evidence points to more than her just wanting to use a Blackberry - it really seems (to me) like she took significant measures to avoid keeping records.
So she wanted the NSA to stonewall because that would give her the excuse she needed to set up a private email server? And the rest of the administration played along?
The simpler explanation is that Clinton got really annoyed with the NSA for denying her requests so she disregarded the rules and did her own thing.
Who knows what she would have done if she weren't stonewalled.
Your explanation is no "simpler", you're just completely disregarding the facts. People didn't just play along, she got a lot of pushback, especially for someone in such a senior position.
In 2011, she was offered a FOIAble BlackBerry. Her team said it didn't make sense. The simple explanation is that she didn't want a FOIAble BB.
I'm inclined to believe accounts like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9149363
Perhaps she wasn't furtively planning to take over the world, but the evidence points to more than her just wanting to use a Blackberry - it really seems (to me) like she took significant measures to avoid keeping records.