Palin Hacker Faces More Charges
David Kernell, the son of a prominent Tennessee Democrat, hacked into the Yahoo email of Sarah Palin after the press blabbed about the email address in the paper. Now Kernell is now facing more charges in his case because he tried to destroy evidence to impede the FBI’s investigation. I think he also may have been using a computer in violation of his parole.
Thanks to Michelle Malkin for this story from Breitbart here:
Three more federal charges have been filed against a University of Tennessee student charged with hacking into the personal e-mail account of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential nominee.
David Kernell, the son of a Democratic Tennessee legislator, pleaded not guilty to all charges Monday, and a magistrate agreed to push back his trial from May to October.
Kernell gained access to Palin’s account in September by correctly answering a series of personal security questions.
The new counts are fraud, unlawful electronic transmission of material outside Tennessee and attempts to conceal records to impede an FBI investigation.
I had previously written that he will likely do 13 to 18 months for the computer crimes. Now I think he is facing an additional 6 months for tampering with the evidence. I expect Kernell will cop a plea when his trial comes around in October.
I don’t have much sympathy but it seems a bit harsh for getting into somebody’s account by guessing their password. I mean, half the wives in the world should be in jail now if that’s a crime.
I have to say I think his argument (even though he only made it to try to justify his screwing around) that he helped her by exposing her security flaws makes some sense. After all, if she were now VP, some foreign power could have copies of all her emails for the past 5 years. Who knows what could be useful there. (Though I have a hard time picturing Palin emailing her buddies about trips to the swing club or anything like that.)
But he also took screen shots and boasted about it.
Shouldn’t a criminal record be enough, if it’s a first offense? Doesn’t the US already have the highest incarceration rate of non-shit-hole nations? In California they’re letting people out early, just to save money.
I say more jail for rapists, gangsters, armed robbers, and Chicago politicians like Obama, and less incarceration for idiots like this kid. If his dad used him to get into her email then he should definitely be put away. I remember there was speculation about that. I think it more likely that the kid grew up in a toxic environment with his dad throwing stuff at the TV every time he saw Bush.
It’s not like the kid was putting some sort of spyware on somebody’s computer and then “stealing” their info, passwords etc., which should be treated more seriously. I want spam-mailers in jail!
The motive is also important. I used a public computer once and the previous user hadn’t logged out. I left an email draft saying, “Wow! Am I ever stupid! I didn’t log out of email and now somebody sent emails from “me” to the FBI praising Osama!”. I think I was doing her a favour. Should I go to jail?
On the other hand, I guess the prosecutors are overcharging to have more to negotiate for a plea deal. You really think a judge would send him away for more than a year?
I’m just saying if he goes to jail when killers are walking the streets then he must have a lousy lawyer, cause it seems like he could have a pile of justifications and excuses, so he should plead guilty and deal with a suspended sentence or whatever.
I’ll make you a bet. If he does more than a year, then I’ll piss on a Koran.
On a related note, it’s “funny” that Palin and McCain were both damaged by people saying their technologically inept, but the president isn’t even “allowed” to use emails. Well, they can, but they’d have to made public.
Also if filth like Binyam Mohammad get treated like heros then they might as well just open all the jails and stop pretending there’s a justice system. The law of the jungle. Actually no, if it was the law of the jungle ten Binyam Moham would have been sent “home” to Britain in pieces.
P.S. He could be innocent… Maybe Palin framed him …
The people who accessed “Joe the Plumber’s” files should be in jail!
Akira,
A lot of good points. I will see if I can address them:
1. Yep, wives who hack into husbands’ emails are indeed breaking the law. I’m actually surprised I haven’t heard about more prosecutions for this.
2. This guy is getting charged with the same crime that World’s Worst Mom, Lori Drew is charged with. She used MySpace under false pretenses and caused a girl to commit suicide.
3. Yeah, using anyone else’s email account, even one where someone forgot to log out could be prosecuted. That you weren’t charged for leaving the email was probably for the same reason husbands don’t press charges when wives use accounts.
4. If this kid doesn’t take a plea deal, he will likely do 18 months of a 5 year sentence. If he takes a deal, he will do at least 6 months. Now that he has added evidence tampering to his case, which is worse, he will do more time. Deal on that bet!
5. I hadn’t thought about the connection of technology to Palin and McCain before, but you are right. Whatever their reasons for being technologically inept, I think it did more to bury them during the election.
6. And yes, the Joe the Plumber thing should be prosecuted the same way if a prosecutor could show that the Ohio workers exceeded their rights in checking his records.
I wasn’t making light of it, just putting it in perspective, relative to you know, rapists and bank-robbers and Tax-Meister Gethner and and Bernie Madoff sitting in his palatial condo.
I would have thought that a first-time offense like this where there was no real harm done, no blackmailing, apparently no commercial profit etc, and not having used any sort of spyware or virus, just going online and guessing a password, would only net a suspended sentence.
I’ll be sure to avoid Tennessee if I plan on a life of crime.
“using anyone else’s email account, even one where someone forgot to log out could be prosecuted”:
I could say there was a post-it note saying: “please feel free to use my email account, that’s just the way I roll…”
That reminds me of a case I read where a guy in a hotel walked by a woman’s room and saw her lying naked on the bed with her legs spread looking at him. so he popped in, so to speak. no conversation. he said “hi” whatever. she said nothing. he was charged with rape.
People are strange + The law is an ass = The Twilght Zone