Charges Brought against 20-Year-Old for Infiltrating Palin’s Account
Charges Brought against 20-Year-Old for Infiltrating Palin’s Account
Posted 10/09/2008 at 3:42am
| by Pulkit Chandna
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Quickly after the news of Palin’s Yahoo email account being hacked broke out, cops zeroed in on 20-year old David Kernell, who happens to be the son of Democratic Tennessee State rep. Mike Kernell.
Now, more than a fortnight after the entire incidence came to light, David Kernell has been indicted. According to the indictment, David advertently accessed Sarah Palin’s personal email account on September 16, 2008 without having the authority do so. David might have to spend up to five years behind bars if the charges against him are proven.
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bcweir
October 09, 2008 at 11:40am
Anyone who thinks this kid deserves a more severe punishment than anybody else who illegally hacks somebody's email account needs to wean themselves off Fox News and get outside more. Those who want to politicize everything have way too much time on their hands. I'm sick of every nonpolitical topic under the sun becoming fodder for the political junkies!! Get a LIFE!!!
Why isn't anyone getting onto Sarah Palin about running state business on a personal and unsecured email account? What kind of a MORON does that? It just shows her to be as technologically ignorant as John McCain. That would be like posting my employer's trade secrets on Facebook using my real name.
Velcrow
October 10, 2008 at 11:08am
I like how you bitch about everyone turning nonpolitical topics into political fodder, and then turn around and make your own post political. Good times.
As much as you wish this was an equal case, it's not. The circumstances make it appear that she was a political target. It has nothing to do with her as a person, but more specifically her position. If you were running for VP you'd get the same 'special' treatment. And in that sense, we have an equality. heh
And apparently you didn't read my earlier post. She hasn't been found guilty yet. But at the same time, you must not get the news much because all I heard for weeks was the liberal media bashing Palin for the email accusations.
"That would be like posting my employer's trade secrets on Facebook using my real name." Not even close. She is accused of avoiding public disclosure. We're supposed to know the inner workings of the government. Everything that goes through gov. email is archived and open to the public. You're statement only proves you have no idea what you're talking about.
Velcrow
October 09, 2008 at 10:54am
A couple of you seem to forget some of the facts of this case. First of all, Palin is 'suspected' of using personal email for gov. use. She hasn't actually been found guilty of it yet, so stop stating it as fact.
Second, this kid is the son of an elected Democratic official, which makes his motivations more suspect.
Third, I keep hearing this crap about how someone more 'malicious' could have done this instead. The idiot posted the new password he created on the Internet for the whole world. Every malicious bastard on the globe now had access. He wasn't doing her a favor. He was screwing her more. And himself, apparently. heh
Now my own thoughts. Honestly, I think he liked the idea of hacking Palin's email, probably just as a challenge. He won the challenge, but lost so much more. Should he get life? No way. He's already screwed his up enough. Can he get off with just a fine? No. The problem now is that this sets a precedent for hacking a government officials information. They have to be a little rough on him, or risk more idiots doing this.
bathtbgin
October 09, 2008 at 7:21am
This isnt some master hacker we're talking about, its not like this kid was sitting in his basement for weeks trying to hack the pentagon, he just reset palins yahoo password with information that anyone could find on wikipedia or the McCain-Palin website, if it wasnt him it could have been someone far worse. I'm not sure he deserves jail time since no one got hurt (in all honesty he probebly helped palin by drawing attention to the hole in security), and at the end of the day he just read someones yahoo email....but it WAS the VP candidates email, so give him like five years probation and force him to wear a helmet from now on so he doesnt hurt himself.
As long as we're handing out stupid helmets, Palin should get one as well. If she didnt use "personal" web based email accounts for government business this wouldnt be an issue, and if she bothered to change some of the security info to stuff that wasnt public knowledge this probably wouldn't have happened in the first place.
maniacm0nk3y
October 09, 2008 at 7:16am
It was stupid to hack but puts to mind the methods of a sketchy governer and now VP. I am kinda worried about Obama when/(if?) he gets into office (unless there is a miraculous turn around on McCains end), only because of how he is going to pull through. He talks the talks, has walked the walk before but being Prez is a different game with multiple edges to smooth out. Both parties are doing dirty deeds though, which is a disgrace. If only people could just act mature, and not cheat or anything of that matter.
Cache
October 09, 2008 at 4:26am
If Obama wins, he could just as easily be pardoned. Still, I wonder how much of this sort of spy game goes on between the parties anyways--under the radar, of course.
Tekzel
October 09, 2008 at 6:42am
I sincerely can't decide which scenario gives me the worse case of heebee jeebees. Obama winning, or McCain winning. The only thing I am certain of is that I will have some heebee jeebees come November.
The kid should do some minor jail time though. He shouldn't have his life ruined as no one was actually HURT, but he should learn a lesson and, more importantly, other jackasses like him should see that there is a consequence for breaking the law and violating a person's privacy. Well, I guess as the latter part is concerned the republicans that voted in the "Patriot Act" should get some jail time too.
Cache
October 10, 2008 at 4:52pm
On the bright side (if there is, in fact, a bright side), the choice of who wins is already out of your hands. As 2000 showed us, it doesn't matter who anyone in America votes for, only a select few actually earn the right to really elect the president.
The rest of us are just useless fodder.
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