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

[Pupster]

Poor kid. Sounds like it was more curiosity than any ill intent.

[Evoxx]

Kernell posted on another site under the pseudonym Rubico: "there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped,"

Ill intent was exactly the motive. I don't think anyone wants to see any candidates have their personal e-mails published. Good candidates should not avoid public service because of a fear of this kind of action.

This kid should receive the full five years and his father should resign.

[NowWhatFolks]

Right, cuz that's not excessive or anything..­.

[K-Dog76]

Pupster,

curiosity? your right publicly posting somoene else's private information to influence an election, there's no ill intent there. I'm sure there are a lot of hacker-criminals who'd like to be your neighbor.

[WilliePilgrim]

May the punishment fit the crime. He should be sentenced to live the lifestyle of one of the Keating Five and forced to wear a heavy weight around his neck, similar to an olympic gold medal. That'll learn 'em.

[Proletarian101]

Oh, so you are saying that he should go to jail. I agree.

[ali-remixamerica]

I'm confused by your response. Which member of the Keating 5 went to prison?

[steeler5]

Maybe he can convince them he was simply working on an assignment from Bill Ayers and he will get off easy.

[desertbloom]

This young man is in shackles and Cheney-Bush-Rove and Co. are free?

[K-Dog76]

yawn... Cheney Bush Rove, thing is so 2006, lets get on on with the future here and how this little kid decided to swing public opinion by stealing someone's personal info...

[luvobama]

He will have nothing to do with you ann yours losing this election. She was an irresponsible choice by a sickly old man. get over it.

[OB08]

Can any DEM lawyers out there help this young man?

[tre]

Johnny Cochran seemed to be pretty good at getting obviously guilty people off the hook. But, I suppose it'll be just a LITTLE bit difficult to get him.

[Nikola Tesla]

I hear that you're very good at getting people off... in the men's room stall.

[munki]

we need a skilled talent like him... perhaps we should train him for a job in national security..­.
geek!

[ali-remixamerica]

Does this mean that all of Sarah Palin's e-mails will be put into evidence as part of discovery? Maybe some good can come out of an unfortunate situation.

[Mabo]

You forgot to put the quote marks around "unfortuna­te"...

[swoosie1]

The young ones see the computers and email and such as an anything goes sort of place--not so much a place for crime, but a place for one-upping and taking gotcha risks. They tool around inside the guts of the internet like most of us do with our closets. So when this kid decided to hack the email of the most important, new politico we encountered last month, he figured he would go after her email and see if he could do some dirty tricks. The anonimity of it all made if fun and allurring for him. Call the young man a maverick? No. call him stupid? Yes.

[greencosmopolitan]

this kid should be acquitted because Mrs. Palin being the governor of Alaska and all..she is not to conduct business from a personal and private email address. Actually Palin herself should be persecuated because she wanted to have more power to do whatever she pleased without anybody finding out about it.

if you have a public email address than you are fair game for hacking.

I hope this kid is set free.

[Proletarian101]

Ummm... so fraud is not illegal? I guess since your credit card or bank account is a public number and you use it publicly it is fair game for anyone to use. Am I right?

[ribe8g]

Good kid.
Go to hell mccain/palin.

[donorman]

Remarks like that make me wonder if I want to associate myself w/ the democratic party.

[Proletarian101]

Nice endorsement of illegal activity. I guess if somebody steals Obama's email there doing to country a great service too.

[tre]

I suppose then it'll be good to do the same to Barack HUSSEIN Obama and Joe Biden?

[blueknight41]

I dont really blame him that much if you put state buisness on a yahoo account you should be hacked.
but knowing this is BUSH COURT you never no he could get the maximum just for being the OPPOSING partys KID.

[RRK70]

I doubt the kid will face serious prosecution because the trial itself would draw a lot of negative press about a politician using a very insecure web based email account TO CONDUCT GOVERNMENT BUSINESS in order to avoid oversight.

[unicornucopious]

this makes me absolutely ill. when someone like dick fuld of lehman brothers can walk away with nearly half a billion dollars while the market crumbles behind him.. and this kid logs into someone else's email account and his future is basically destroyed. this world is absolutely ridiculous. it makes me not want to have children because they would have to grow up in such a horribly warped system.

they should be indicting sarah palin for being a complete idiot and having an unsecured email account which any "joe six pack" could get into.

justice in this country is a joke.

[Theresa2]

I know that David broke the law but here's why his arrest is a shame. Palin provoked it by refusing to honor legal freedom of information requests for her email. If she was using this email to conduct public business, the history should be public record. No doubt the state of Alaska was paying the monthly fee. Poor David was just trying to recoup the state's property.

[vincefango]

Exactly. What this kid did was a public service. FREE DAVID!

[Praedor]

This kid's a hero.

He needs to be set free to continue his public service.

[tre]

So, can he perform the same public service to Barack HUSSEIN Obama and Joe Biden?

[Insideman]

Shouldn't Bush be in handcuffs and shackles too for hacking our emails, bank accounts, telephones, etc?