Son of Tennessee Democrat indicted in Palin hacking
Published Wednesday, October 8, 2008
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Stumble It!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 forbade him from owning a computer and limited his Internet use to checking 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.
Prosecutors declined to say if anyone else would be charged. 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.
Community Discussion
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What a dumb move. Not only hacking, but then publicizing it. He will be convicted, of course. Heck of a way to start out his young life.
He'll be the first pardon by the Obama administration.
He did it, but just wasn't smart about it. He should have read the fine print on the yahoo website.............
While the kid is the son of a democrat he idolizes McCain and the GOP and has admitted trying to disgrace his father. The Right Wing press won't tell you that because he is just one of thousands working...as the Germans did during WWII...to discredit others by pretending to be what he is not. HE IS A SCUM BAG TRAITOR.
No Sarah will send him to Gitmo
Poor kid..lmao ..its hard to believe that some people are actually ignorant enough to implicate themselves in such a way.
Hacking is not something that should be viewed so lightly.
It is easy to get caught if you don't know what your doing.
I can't imagine not being allowed to use a computer. I would go feel like an addict without his vice.
who cares what he did its sarah palin. we're talking about shes got alot of stuff to uncover and those lies need to be straightrened out.shes got issues and needs to get them fixed espically with her case going on she needs to start thinking bout alaskans instead of herself i hope she looses the campaign election we can use someone better then her for our government.there are alot of people out there who think shes hiding alot and wont answer most questions we have for her.theres more to it then most people see.
Great attitude misslilshawty, yup who cares that he broke the law. Well I bet you would care if he hacked into your email or stole your identity. One could extend your reasoning to almost any crime if the victim were on your bad guy list. One heck of a society we would then have.
Hopefully this story stays public for a long, long time or at least until after the election.
It is constant reminder that Sarah Palin is a dimwit.
dog
First, if he did it he should serve time, and be held up as an example. On the other hand he deserves a fair trial if he wants one. Why the rush to judgement?
Second, to approve of his alleged behavior simply because you dislike our Governor is a violation of everyone's rights. There is equal protection under the law -- right along the lines of illegal search and seizure. NOONE has the right to illegally snoop into ANYONE'S mail, or anything else. His alleged actions are not justifiable just because you do not like the victim of the alleged crime. If you believe he did the right thing simply because you do not like the alleged victim, imagine where that leaves YOU? (Would you want to be stopped and your car searched because a neighbor thought poorly of you?)
Third, some of you folks need to work on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage. Minor typographical errors are understandable, BUT -- "then" and "than" are different! Contractions have an apostrophe, usually before the final "t" or "s"; sentences start with UPPER CASE letters; "your" (possessive) is not the same as "you're" (a contraction for "you are"). If you want to be credible, write in a manner which does not indicate lack of education, lack of logical thought, lack of basic decency, all leading to an inability to engage in civil discourse. You know who you are; well, maybe not!
AlaskaPhil makes some good points, but I don't know if he thought of all of the ramifications...
In fact, the statement "There is equal protection under the law -- right along the lines of illegal search and seizure." is an outright LIE!!!!!
If my e-mail got hacked would the perp be found and brought to justice within 3 weeks? Heck no, absolutely not, not a snowball's chance in hell. So, if they won't pursue and prosecute this crime that occurs probably hundreds to thousands of times daily for us commoners, why have they rushed to Palin's side?
Is this the supposed equal protection?
More like, we are all equal, but some of us are more equal... (isn't that out of Animal Farm?)
Equal protection really doesn't exist. The elite are treated as the elite. The rest of us are scum of the earth.
Just my 2 cents...
What this young man did was an act of patriotism... because he did it to a Republican who is also a Christian; therefore, it's heroic. Isn't he hosting SNL this weekend and making the "Progressive" circuit on Moyers, Letterman, Maher, and The View? Welcome to the new paradigm.
Shawty. I may be one mean cuss, but you are an all around bad human.
This is hardly hacking. This is exploiting an obvious security breach in yahoo mail. Was any harm done with the information? NO. He should be congratulated for revealing how stupid it is to use a public domain email account for private business. A real hacker steal $1,000 of dollars from innocent victims and gets parole and this kid is getting hung out to dry for guessing the high school that Palin attended in Wasilla.
Newsreader: You make a good point, but I am not lying. This kind of vitriol is what makes blogging less civil and less credible.
You are right, prosecution does not happen as often as, perhaps, it should. That is a flaw in the system, not a lie by the writer (In this case, me). I agree with you.
But, there is a standard to which we aspire, and that is my point. Not every speeder gets a ticket, not every petty criminal goes to jail, or even gets tried; not every pet owner gets cited for violating the leash law. Not every hacker gets punished. Not every felon gets caught. This does not make the writers, or even the enforcers of laws, liars. This kind of alarmist rhetoric diminishes us all.
The idea that we aspire to equal protection means the alleged criminal, once brought into the justice system, deserves a trial, not a kangaroo court of bloggers. Of course not everyone gets caught, and perhaps not everyone is prosecuted as we might like. But at least one of the bloggers here implies that persecuting someone, vigilante-style (that is, outside the law), is OK if we happen to dislike or mistrust the person whose rights are being violated. That is simply wrong.
Darn right Fairbanksgas - the kid's a friggin' hero. If only he would do this to all your political opponents, he'd be God.
Who cares. Now go catch a killer or a rapist!
Misslilshawty back to elementary school please. That was one out of control statement. I am sure you prefer a Democrat so you can continue to live in low income housing and collect your food stamps. The middle class white males really do appreciate your input.
Regards,
Pat
P_D:
One: I am questioning the rush to judge the hacker. There is a standard of law in this country which entitles the accused to be considered innocent until proven guilty. I am judging people's apparent abuse (in writing) of that standard because it is one of the underpinnings of our system of justice. Please, try to keep up.
Two: You miss the point. I was disagreeing NOT with someone's right to say what he or she thinks. That would be a violation of his or her Freedom of Speech on my part. I am pointing out that approving someone's random violation of the Right to Privacy (hacking someone's email, for instance) simply because you do not like the victim, and therefore support the alleged hacker, is wrong because the act (of hacking) itself is wrong. Say what you like, to think otherwise is anarchy. TALKING about it "being acceptable" is NOT wrong; that's just ignorance. Admitting that one agrees with a violation of someone's Constitutional Rights, well, that does not exactly turn on any light bulbs either.
I do not intend to deprive anyone of their opinion. But if the opinion is that the random violation of the Right to Privacy is acceptable, say what you like, we are all in trouble.
As for your twisting the text to put words in my mouth, well, that was just unsanitary.
I stand by my comment that people need to work on their writing skills. Reading the newspaper and remaining illiterate, while obviously not impossible, would be unfortunate.
Fairbanksgas:
And if hacking is a way to find a weakness in Yahoo, tossing a brick through your front window is just a way to see if someone can break into your home. Flawed argument, Bucko!
No rush to judgment here, the guy admitted that he is guilty.
Worried about hacking a email site? I am concerned that the DNM and Google are keeping all the comments that I have posted. These will then be turned over to the FBI. They are always watching you...
P_D
I appreciate your feedback. I only took umbrage at being called a liar. The rest of what you said was reasonable.
I believe these blogs are for people to converse without insult or injury to others. IF there are "students" and others here to learn, blogs can be instructive NOT by lowering the standards (poor spelling, usage, grammar, etc.) but by showing others a higher standard. Just as in a 10K foot race, the experienced runners do not slow down so the newbies can "do better". That is called "grading on the curve" and it weakens the final product. Ideally, the final product should be a universe of the best runners possible. On line, the final product could be an elevated exchange of ideas.
AkRascal:
In the first sentence of the story, it says the guy pleaded "not guilty" to the charges. In a perfect world he would admit to the wrong-doing, and take his lumps. Seldom happens. Once he pleads not guilty he is entitled to "innocent until proven guilty."
Mea culpa (my fault): The "Rights" I referred to earlier are contained in the Bill of Rights, not the Constitution. A mistake on my part.
Thanks for the dialog, P_D
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