Student's trial delayed in Palin hacking case
Published Friday, November 14, 2008
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Stumble It!KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The complexity of a computer crime trumped the need for a speedy trial Friday in the case of the son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker charged with breaking into the e-mail account of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley agreed to a joint request from prosecutors and defense attorneys for more time to prepare for the trial of University of Tennessee student David Kernell, 20, of Knoxville.
"A lot of this is in computer language that a lot of lawyers couldn't just read and get," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle.
Kernell, charged with one count of tapping into the Alaska governor's e-mail in September, was moved from next month to April 20. The son of longtime state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee, faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
In court, Kernell was asked if he understood he was giving up his right a speedy trial.
"Yes, sir. I understand," the economics major told the magistrate.
Kernell's attorney, Wade Davies, contends the government has wrongly combined two similar misdemeanors to form a felony charge, and says because of that, the case should be thrown out.
While computer "hacking" is slang without legal definition, Davies also objects to prosecutors using it to describe his client because of the "negative connotations." He says hacking implies "the use of sophisticated means of specialized computer skills." What his client did was more like "guessing three security questions based on readily available information from public sources."
Kernell turned himself in the same day his indictment was unsealed in October. He pleaded not guilty and has been released on several conditions, including staying away from his computer except for school work.
The indictment said Kernell tapped into the Alaska governor's widely publicized Yahoo! e-mail account by correctly answering a series of personal security questions. He allegedly reset the password to "popcorn" and was able to read the contents, make screenshots and post his exploits on the Web using the nickname "rubico."
The indictment said at least one other person followed a similar path into Palin's account, but no other arrests have been made.
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what a joke.
Had the guy actually used the email account, to attempt to use her credit cards, or access her bank account, then I could see a felony charge. but for reading the email?? gimme a break!
Fact is, the stupidest thing he did, was change the password. He should have left it and just kept snooping through her emails till he found something REALLY juicy to publicize.
In the end, she should have known better. Officials should be mandated to attend a few hours of internet and communication security classes.
On that note, remember if you do use online banking, make sure the email account your notifications are sent to, has passwords just as hard to crack as your bank account, but absolutely NOT THE SAME PASSWORDS! It's very easy to see what accounts a person has by checking their past messages, then go to those accounts claiming to have lost your password, and request it be emailed back to you. Now they have access to all your accounts that report to that email account.
You should also consider changing passwords every few months and note when the accounts said you last logged in was.
good luck
Give the kid, David Kernell, a slap on the wrist. Bad boy! Now go finish your college degree so you won't be a drain on society.
The state of Alaska should charge Governor Palin and her staff with attempting to circumvent Alaska's sunshine law. Maybe another ethics violation filed with the Personnel Board? Wish Palin et al. could be charged with stupidity, but I don't think that is against the law in Alaska.
IMHO, Governor Palin needs to fire the school friends she rewarded with state jobs and hire herself some competent staff. Any aide worth her/his salt would have seen this train wreck coming and could have prevented it by insisting that the Gov follow state law and use the appropriate email system.
someone commits a felony and its the victims fault. what an amazing defense. i never would have thought of that. you two could really clean up in the legal profession.
the only way to log into someones account is to
1. know them well and all the basics about him/her
and2. you have to change the password nomatter what.
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