Palin Email Hack: Man Indicted

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker pleaded not guilty Wednesday to hacking the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

David Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn. entered the plea in federal court in Knoxville, the same day prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging him with intentionally accessing Palin's e-mail account without authorization.

Kernell, an economics student at the University of Tennessee, was brought into court wearing handcuffs and shackles on his ankles.

He was released without posting bond, but the court limited his computer use to checking his own e-mail and doing class work.

Kernell's father is longtime state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. The lawmaker has said he had nothing to do with the hacking incident.

David Kernell was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Knoxville and faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Trial is set for Dec. 16.

The investigation is continuing. The indictment said at least one other person successfully reset Palin's e-mail password and accessed her e-mail account after the hacker named "rubico," whom the government contends is Kernell, posted his exploits on the Web.

"I wouldn't say specifically whether that other individual may be charged or not," Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said from Washington.

U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley restricted Kernell from discussing the case with any potential witnesses, which include his roommates.

Kernell was also restricted from having any contact directly or indirectly with the Alaska governor or her family.

Shirley warned that if Kernell violated any part of his release conditions, he would be held until the trial.

Kernell's attorney, Wade Davies, accompanied his client in court.

"As soon as we found out about the charges this morning, David voluntarily turned himself in," said Davies, who refused to answer any other questions.

The indictment alleges that on Sept. 16 Kernell reset the password to Palin's personal e-mail account to gain access to it. Authorities say Kernell then read the contents of the account and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content and other personal information, later posting some of the information to a public Web site.

Comments

[sacrebleu]

All I want to know is: where can I send a donation to his defense fund?

[Hondo 2008]

This will probably do: https://donate.barackobama.com.

[tre]

Send it to me and I'll forward it to him.

[ThirdEye]

I say give him a MEDAL of some sort for exposing the political abuse of power and covert deception inherent in the Palin Alaskin Administration.

[Roguewolf]

Yeah, its not a big deal that he broke the law.

[luvobama]

Nothing less than capital punishment. For sure.

[Melissa]

Thankfully he will wind up in federal prison.

[luvobama]

Prison? Pueeze. Your entire party have sent over 4100 of our young men and women to their dea ths in an unjust war based on l ies.

Give me a break.

[steve-annie]

Or working for the CIA, FBI, NSA, Secret Service, etc., etc.

[JulieSA]

In your imagination only. The emails were posted on the internet, and there was nothing there.

[Harry1980]

NOT ALL E-MAILS WERE POSTED ..... THERE IS MORE TO IT.

BTW Are you working for Sarah Palin's Campaign?

[ShawnOK]

I feel so badly for his parents. This is a very regretful event for everyone. For Ms. Palin, the Dems, kids. He will be punished. Tell your kids not to do anything they wouldn't want to see in the paper.

Go Obama!

[bannorhill]

This was not an event. It was a crime. I wonder if you would feel the same if an "event" happened to you.

[luvobama]

I have nothing to hide. i thought it was your party that wanted to hack into every Amer ican's business.

[luvobama]

I would feel r aped. Would i have to pay for my own kit?

[the964kid]

Well he maybe did something wrong BUT IT WAS FOR A GOOD CAUSE! Somebody needs to put together a legal defense fund for this kid so we can make sure he's not getting wiped out by this. If Palin had not been trying to hide her emails this kid wouldn't have had to take matters into his own hands. Good luck David!

[K-Dog76]

964kid,

Thats like saying pro-lifers have it ok to assault young women in front of Planned Parenthood­... because religious wackos believe its a good cause.

What this kid did is similar to identity theft and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He could just as easily stolen your credit card number.

Palin hiding her e-mails, hmmm hiding them in her own account? Thats like hiding your socks in the drawer.

Have whatever opinion you want about Palin. But its justice for all, not some. If you don't believe that, you aren't a progressive liberal, you are unAmerican­...

[chiefsjen]

Palin hiding her e-mails, hmmm hiding them in her own account? Thats like hiding your socks in the drawer.


-------------------

uh no -- Palin is hiding her 'official state business' emails by using at least 1 private account which is against the rules she's supposed to follow...

would u punish an employee that took something from the company they worked for to prove they were doing wrong-doing??

that's what whistle-blower protection is for.

[Myshkin57]

"Palin hiding her e-mails, hmmm hiding them in her own account? Thats like hiding your socks in the drawer."

She was supposed to be using her public email account for state business. That's why people say she was hiding her emails. Public email accounts may be looked at by anyone. State business is supposed to be done through a public email account. So far as I know, there is no law on the books about transparency regarding footwear.

[Hondo 2008]

Good idea. By the way, would you mind sending everyone the login ID and password to your email account?

[sarale23]

The goal justifies the means? I.e. violate the law simply because you hate XYZ? You must be insane...
I thought the law applies to everybody.

[anthead]

it's done by the Bush admin every day.

[luvobama]

Just not repubs. What if he refuses to answer a subpoena?

[jurornumber13]

Keep things in per spec tive

Its not like he released the name of a c.....1...­..a.... ag ent.
Its not like he made passes at male pa ge s
Its not like he ub str uc ted ju s ti ce

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901574.html

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/02/libby.sentence/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/politics/28cnd-leak.html?pagewanted=print

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/washington/27cnd-gonzales.html

So I guess now we will fi na ly see all of pa lins e ma ils now....

[K-Dog76]

juror13,

Your right he didn't obstruct justice, like the Clintons or the Governor of New York.
Keep things in perspective, if he was the FBI sifting through your accounts looking for terrorist info, you would want him prosecuted.

[luvobama]

But you and your party would say too bad.

[GOPMaleficence]

Now if they could just do something about Rove deleting all those White House emails...

[Sadducee]

What he did was wrong and he should be given some punishment. A fine and community service would do along with having his computer activities limited for a year or so. We all did dumb things at his age and most of us go on to become good citizens.

[mirandawilde]

Wow, that happened fast.
So when will Palin be impeached for misuse of state resources and using Yahoo to conduct state business?
Oh, and for ripping off the state by claiming per diem expenses for meals eaten at home and for travel expenses for her family?
Oh, and Troopergate?
I've lost count of all the scandals..­..

[K-Dog76]

miranda,

apparently you support State Troopers using a taser on their own children., working whil;e drunk, poaching and making death threats. If you aren't for firing trigger-happy cops you must be a republican, which is why I don't get why you are being mesan to palin.

[mirandawilde]

No, I don't support any of those things. But I do support a demonstration of appropriate boundaries by elected officials, and Sarah Palin has demonstrated in various ways that she has no sense of appropriate boundaries. She has a history of hiring unqualified friends and firing anyone who disagrees with her- this is egregious behavior.

[luvobama]

I didn't realize sarah was judge and juror.

[SwingVoter]

As someone who knows the computer world well, I would say this young man exercised really bad judgment.

[paganmist]

I don't support criminal activities, for the most part (I think smoking weed's okay) so I can't support or condone this kid hacking into someone else's account - or rather, getting into the account fraudulently. It's wrong. I can't support it.

However, I can't help but be glad that it happened. Now we have a better idea of what Palin's been up to. Hands down, irrefutable, is the fact that it is illegal and deceptive and unfitting in an elected official to conduct stage business over personal e-mail. I have yet to hear one Palin-lover defend her on this, and I never will, because they love to just change the subject when they're faced with irrefutable facts.

So whether or not this kid intended it, he just did his country a service. I say he should get a Presidential pardon.

[lordball]

I very much in an agreement with you on this. This guy is more of a national hero than John McCAIN ever hope to be. He exposed the deceptions and lies from Palin for the American people. Obama first task in office is to grant him a full Presidential pardon and give him a job as his National Security Advisor.

[K-Dog76]

lordball,

You are soooooo right! Hacking someone e-mail is such a heroic act, this man should be king for a day. Who cares if McCain was tortured for 7 years?????

Guess what that kind of remark is downright sick. Have a little respect, even if you don't like the guy. He really did suffer for his country. And he didn't do it for political motivations or by stealing someones personal info.

[MaryanneAZ]

In my opinion, this young man did nothing overtly illegal, but it was improper. Yahoo is an internet website in the public domain. Many people open up "free" email addresses on Yahoo and other sites. Unless Palin had some written contractual assurance of privacy from Yahoo and reasonably expected that no one would be able to enter her emailbox, then I do not see where there is any case here against the young man. One's security is only as good as your security software and use of appropriate passwords. Palin failed to protect herself and her office by improperly using a public domain email account for business purposes. Also many of us have fundamental questions about this woman that encourages more aggressive searching because she is so secretive and outside the mainstream. I predict the young man will get fined and do community service. I also predict he has a big future ahead of him in the IT/computer industry.

[CitizenFace]

Yah, no kidding!

What if there was something really important or confidential among those emails? What if the hacking was done by someone looking to do real harm to Alaska rather than just some kid with too much free time? Why is nobody asking these questions?

[DLB]

"Why is nobody asking these questions?"

Because the victim was a conservative.

[luvobama]

Mostly because no one cares. You people have no value any more.

[K-Dog76]

MaryanneAZ,

I'll be reading your e-mail tonight and sifting through your e-bay accounts, like its public domain right? I mean thats why you support the FBI reading e-mails looking for terrorists then... Glad to see a lefty supporting the Patriot Act.

Wrong. Its personal information.

Of course this kid has a big future ahead of him, his daddy is a politician who will pull strings for him for years to come. I'm glad to see you also support "priveledge" its something all politicians enjoy, but only republicans seem to get accused of.

[JulieSA]

Your opinion doesn't matter. Accessing someone else's email without authorization is a crime, regardless of what you think is illegal or not.

[Harry1980]

Every one's opinion matter - How can you say that? Using yahoo for govt business is illegal in the first place.

[rkrenke]

So, this young man is shackled and handcuffed while true criminals like Rove walk free.

Welcome to Bush and McCain's America.

[K-Dog76]

rkrenke,

still living in the past, that wil help you to elect yet another do-nothing congress.

When BArack Obama wins the election and everything turns out the same, I'm glad you'll be after Obama's criminal minions as well... because the Rove thing, thats not partisan hatred, we are talking ethics, right?

[luvobama]

Basically anything you people have to say about the law has no credibility. None.

[rkrenke]

Surely, you can do better than "Obama's criminal minions". Rove is the lowest form of life - to compare any of Obama's associations with Rove simply confirms your desperation.

Welcome to a new age.

[progressivelady]

Poor kid, her and her husband break law's left and right, but he's going to the pokey.

Hypocrisy: (hip-PAH-krass-ee) n. Republican outrage over the media's exposure and discussion regarding Sarah Palin's personal life and family matters, while Republicans dogmatically insist that the government should be able to interfere with your personal life by dictating your right to decide whether or not to have a family. See also "Irony.
"

[K-Dog76]

progressivelady, lets see this list of broken laws.... you want to hate Palin fine by me but don't make blanket arguments without facts, its as if you haven't done any research..­..

[luvobama]

You are on the side of the biggest criminals in history. You have no cred. Zip.

[Proletarian101]

I cannot believe some of the comments that I am seeing here. If you think that this crime should not be punished, for what ever reason, then you have no merit to say that anyone else should be punished as well. We have laws for a certain reason. If somebody has broken the law they should face the penalty. If it is found that anyone in the Bush administration broke the law, it should be punished. If you belive this kid did something right than you are no better than the people breaking the laws.

[brooksidebeast]

Exactly! This kid should be punished..­..did he even think of the implications for his own family? I mean, go Obama and all, but this kid broke the law and potentially did damage to a lot of people.

[K-Dog76]

finally three reasonable arguments in a row! I'm glad I can still vote for Obama, without being a fascist.

[JodyMcg]

Hacking into a Yahoo account is fair game. Rove teaches govt. officials Yahoo accounts aren't priveledged. Meaning that if the Gov. conducts secret government business then she should do it on a Yahoo account and not her Govt. account., If you are so stupid to be a govt., official and use Yahoo as your primary account using obvious passwords that your 5th grader could figure out then you are a danger to America. You are dumber than dumb. Furthermore, He didn't hack into the Penagon. He didn't hack into the Alaskan Govt. emails. It was a Yahoo account,. A Yahoo account does not protect anyone from hackers. Once again the RNC stunt backfires.

I hope the young man has a good attorney.

[Proletarian101]

Apparently you can't read. He did not guess her password, he used the security questions to be able to change her password. To call that not illegal activity is absurd. By the way, it is very easy to get your social security number, so if someone where to open up several accounts in your name, that would be alright, right?

[deinefreunde]

Everybody insisting that this kid did nothing wrong looses every moral ground to condemn "rovian" politics. Apparently the opinion that "everything goes" in politics is not associated to specific political conviction.

That being said: Kid - what you did was so stupid and wrong in so many ways ...

[imajoebob]

Shackled and cuffed? What is this? Are we still in the 17th Century? Maybe they'd like to put him in an iron mask, too.

This is another abuse of power by the thugs in the Bush "Justice" Department.

OJ wasn't even in cuffs and he was accused of kidnapping and armed assault.

Anybody else see this as a show trial? Anybody else know of someone getting shackled for the same (alleged) offense?

[NowWhatFolks]

I was thoroughly appalled when I read that, too!

Look, the kid was wrong. He should not have done what he did. It was/is illegal. He should be punished for his prank (and yes, that is what it was) and should both pay a fine and whatever else a reasonable court would dole out. But shackled and cuffed?

Shackles are used to protect the rest of the courtroom from a dangerous person or to prevent someone from fleeing. A college kid who turned himself in after using social engineering to access someone else's Yahoo email in no way even remotely resembles that. It is beyond belief that they would subject a kid (and he IS a kid still) to that. It makes a nice visual for the rabid "Kill him!" screaming neanderthals out there, but wholly unnecessary, and bordering on cruel.

Someone at work pointed out that it was maybe done to scare the kid. My response: I think the FBI knocking on your door and interrogating your friends is probably enough scare.