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Palin Email Snoop Found Guilty On 2 Charges
netbuzz writes "A federal jury in Knoxville today has convicted David Kernell, 22, of two charges — misdemeanor computer fraud and felony obstruction of justice — in connection with the 2008 episode where he accessed the personal Yahoo email account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and then initiated a worldwide rummaging of its contents. The obstruction charge carries a maximum prison term of 20 years."
They also hung on the count of Identity Theft; The DA can retry that later if he so chooses.
My question is: Why is going through someone else's email different than going through their regular mail? What makes the addition of a computer so special?
I understand (and agree) that the guy should be punished for hacking this account, but how come nothing ever happend about Palin conducting official State business using her personal email account? Is it because the information was technically obtained illegaly? Or did something happen and I just missed it...?
Living With a Nerd
About as stupid as Obama?
"A Frenchman who police say hacked Twitter accounts belonging to US President Barack Obama and celebrities could face jail."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8586269.stm
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
What did he do that qualifies as obstruction of justice?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The obstruction of justice charge stems from an allegation by the FBI that Kernell attempted to erase evidence of the crime from his hard drive
"He gained access to Twitter accounts by simply working out the answers to password reminder questions on targets' e-mail accounts, according to investigators. " Seriously, I hate those things. When it used to be allowed, I always just retyped my password into the answers for those security questions. It's always really easy stuff to socially engineer or, in the case of a public figure, look up on google... Did he figure out the name of Obama's first pet, where he went to school, his first job, his mother's maiden name, or what? All of those things have got to be fairly easy to work out.
If you're going to do this, at least become a telecom company first. When they pull this kind of shit, they get a pat on the back.
Two years only happens in extenuating circumstances (say, a woman kills her rapist after the fact; it's murder, but it's really hard to apply a tough sentence). Murder is rarely punished with a mere two years. That said, sentencing guidelines are fscked up, because it's always easier to appear "tough on crime" than it is to establish just guidelines.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
You can kill a guy and never go to jail, like Laura Bush, or a woman and never go to jail like Ted Kennedy.
You mean, people put honest answers in those fields??? [boggles]
Similar to the upcoming US election results
Things like this make me sad. Not just because I feel bad for the person, but also because frankly I don't want my taxes spent on keeping this man imprisoned for up to twenty years. Cost of imprisonment is on average 22,650 per year, at 20 years that's $453,000. In my opinion it's not worth that much to keep a man behind bars for guessing a password.
An Alaska judge has sided with former Gov. Sarah Palin in a lawsuit over e-mail, finding that state law doesn't forbid the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.
Just because you want it to be illegal doesn't make it illegal; i.e. laws have to be passed by legislature first.
Kernell was found guilty of computer fraud - a misdemeanor subject to a prison term of up to one year -- and obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum 20-year sentence.
Don't lie to the feds. They get all bent out of shape about that. Frankly, even if they were to question me about someone else's crime, I would give serious consideration to refusing to speak to them, out of concern that my version of events might not be the same as someone else's, and they might decide that I was the one "misremembering".
Disclaimer: Evolution comes with NO WARRANTY, except for the IMPLIED WARRANTY of FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
From the article:
You can't retry a deadlocked kernel. The only way out is a hard reset.
Did he figure out the name of Obama's first pet, where he went to school, his first job, his mother's maiden name, or what? All of those things have got to be fairly easy to work out.
You'd think so, given the vetting which is supposed to go into establishing a person's qualifications for the Office of the President but there's been substantial research into each of those things, and each of them bring up non-trivial questions of the veracity of so-called "established fact". Kinda odd considering the public scrutiny - in the media, government, and otherwise - of every other President to date.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
are upheld in Court. Personal email really IS private, and people should be held accountable if they cross the line. Jail time sounds a bit extreme, given the youthful age of the accused, but I'm glad the legal precedents are being followed correctly.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
I wonder if wiping your fingerprints after a robbery constitutes obstruction of justice?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Except it wasn't the 'obvious password' which did them in, it was the lame drop-box security questions. Make it so all security questions are chosen when the account is created, and not selected from some stupid list, and your problem is solved.
An Alaska judge has sided with former Gov. Sarah Palin in a lawsuit over e-mail, finding that state law doesn't forbid the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.
By the way, that was from back in January. Didn't your copt of Palin Haters Weekly include that news? Gee, I wonder why not?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It was not his fault, it was a Kernell Panic.
but you do this, and you get 20 years on average.
it seems like u.s. justice system is so fucked up.
In the American federal system, murder is almost always prosecuted under state law. Sentencing Guidelines As Applied To Murder [Oregon, 1998]
You want to see a change in sentencing? Talk to your state legislator.
The big deal with the Obama case is that the question was "Where were you born?" and Obama filled it in honestly. They're trying to cover it up! This is all part of the conspiracy, man.
There are two stupid people at the heart of this story, David Kernell and Sarah Palin.
Huh? How was Palin stupid in the context of this incident? Was she stupid to use email, as she should have known the extremists on the Left would hack it? Or just stupid because she disagrees with your views?
Apparently, Palin must not have used that account in any way that seriously violated any ethics rules and/or laws in any meaningful way or she would have been tarred, feathered, pilloried, and publicly horse-whipped on the Senate and/or House floors before being jailed by those who were (and still are) out to personally destroy the woman.
If there had been anything that could have even remotely made even the most shaky, thin case against Palin in the emails, you don't think it would have been the subject of a special Congressional committee and/or special prosecutor? You don't think that was *exactly* the intent behind the account cracking?
I don't care about "R" or "D", as both have been for larger government & larger national debt, but this was a really sleazy dirty trick and those behind anything like it, regardless of party/ideology, should be aggressively prosecuted and sentenced severely if found guilty.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Even safer, is to use a safe to store the passwords.
Safest: safety deposit box :)
not so much...
Many years ago, a friend of mine worked in a bank and told me that they were actually cataloging all items in safety deposit boxs! Having worked at a bank and been blown away but so many lapses of security issues, this didn't surprise me. He gleefully went over various items they encountered - including womens underwear! Mostly papers, not as much jewelry one would expect and some cash.
So, if you really want to be safe, encrypt a file on a storage medium that requires a password and that'll only work on your host at home? Nah I'll just carry my ATM PIN on the back of the card! (That way I can find it in case I forget it!)
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
i'll one better you.. wearing gloves to prevent fingerprints from being left is obstruction!
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
It is still considered theft if someone enters my house and takes some of my belongings even if I leave my door is unlocked. Ditto for leaving the keys in my car and someone takes it or leaving the car running unattended while I go into a store or something.
For some reason a lot of /. people seem to think that not securing your property suddenly makes it fair game for anyone who wants to take it. The crime occurs when someone takes something that doesn't belong to them regardless of how well or how poorly it is secured.
Personally, I lock my doors, don't leave my keys in my car, set up a RADIUS server for my wireless authentication, etc. I'd rather my stuff not get stolen or my network get broken into in the first place. There was a time when people respected other people's privacy and property. That doesn't seem to happen any more.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Except it wasn't the 'obvious password' which did them in, it was the lame drop-box security questions. Make it so all security questions are chosen when the account is created, and not selected from some stupid list, and your problem is solved.
Please answer your security question: "What country were you born in ?"
> "Kenya"
*ducks*
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
If there had been anything that could have even remotely made even the most shaky, thin case against Palin in the emails, you don't think it would have been the subject of a special Congressional committee and/or special prosecutor? You don't think that was *exactly* the intent behind the account cracking?
Actually, I was on ebaumsworld when the account was "hacked" and the first screenshots were posted and I can assure you it was done for the lulz and not some some diabolical political purpose.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
i'll one better you.. wearing gloves to prevent fingerprints from being left is obstruction!
Hah! Not committing robbery in the first place is obstruction since that would leave them without anything with which to charge you!
Was she stupid to use email, as she should have known the extremists on the Left would hack it?
Umm... what?
This guy wasn't an extremist anything, I was there reading the thread when he posted it, he mentioned in his thread that there wasn't anything interesting in it. [Apparently this somehow gets construed as him being an evil liberal socialist hippie extremist out to overthrow the government...] Then some whiteknight went and changed the password so that nobody could access the account.
The dude was just doing what any average person in his position would be doing if they got to look at Obama's emails or Dick Cheney's emails or Bush's emails.
As a Canadian, I've got to say, this Republican vs Democrat stuff is really really getting out of hand. Are you people children or adults, FFS.
Somehow, I missed the original story. Must have been on travels at the time. Would someone help me with these basic questions? (I can't help being interested in the trivia. I love Sarah Palin stories. US politics would be so dull without her...)
- How did he hack the account? Guess the password? Do we know what the password was?
- Were funny email bits published on the net? Are they still available somewhere?
- How did the guy actually get caught?
-Guessed the password (or the password reset questions, forget which)
-Posted screenshots of the inbox, I do not recall any funny bits
-Posted to 4chan.
As popular as it is to bash Palin, this isn't about Slashdots users estimate of her acumen, but about David Kernell breaking the law. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
If there had been anything that could have even remotely made even the most shaky, thin case against Palin in the emails, you don't think it would have been the subject of a special Congressional committee and/or special prosecutor? You don't think that was *exactly* the intent behind the account cracking?
Actually, I was on ebaumsworld when the account was "hacked" and the first screenshots were posted and I can assure you it was done for the lulz [encycloped...matica.com] and not some some diabolical political purpose.
Sure, and I'm certain that if the son/daughter of a Republican politician had cracked Obama's or Hillary's email accounts that all those claiming the Palin email crack was the equivalent of a random prank would feel the same.
If it were for laughs, why did he not try cracking email accounts of Hillary or Obama and instead chose Palin? Just because the politically-motivated cracker was incompetent at exploiting the data politically or even at hiding his tracks doesn't affect the fact that Palin was a target because she was (and remains) a threat to the Progressive social & political agenda.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
"The dude was just doing what any average person in his position would be doing if they got to look at Obama's emails or Dick Cheney's emails or Bush's emails. "
What the hell kind of world do you live in where it is socially acceptable to just paw through other people's private email accounts for the lulz? What if you find communication between a lawyer about criminal cases, about taxes? What about communication with a doctor about a medical condition? What about communication with members of the clergy about person issues?
The motivation behind the attack does not change the fact that there WAS an unauthorized security breach.
That no sensitive data was found does not eliminate the legal consequences of that illegal act.
If it were for laughs, why did he not try cracking email accounts of Hillary or Obama and instead chose Palin?
What bizarre alternate universe did you come from?
Just because the politically-motivated cracker was incompetent at exploiting the data politically or even at hiding his tracks doesn't affect the fact that Palin was a target because she was (and remains) a threat to the Progressive social & political agenda.
Palin is/was a threat to anyone? Really?
$ make available
I'm a european so take this with appropriate quantities of salt but from where I'm standing Palin, Beck, the teabaggers, et al seem more of a threat to the internal cohesion of the Republican party than to the "progressive agenda" (whatever that means.)
The Republican Party and the Democratic Party have both been infiltrated by Progressives. Examples of Republican Progressives include (but aren't limited to) Lindsey Graham(sp?) and John McCain.
The political struggles in Europe have ranged mainly between royalty and a parliamentary body, Socialism, Fascism, and Communism with most European governments being some compromise between them. Where America has differed fundamentally is that the debate was changed from what form, to *how much* government there should be. The Founders believed that the only way to contain government expansion and thus prevent loss of individual freedom was to restrict government. They (rightly, IMHO) viewed all government as a necessary evil that should be kept at the very minimums of size and power possible while still performing the minimal duties it must.
This is the struggle America faces once again. Those that want to sacrifice our individual freedoms in exchange for power through cradle-to-grave entitlements and thus government involvement & control in every facet of life, versus those that do not wish to sacrifice their freedoms for an intrusive nanny-state.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Amen. And wasn't Kernell's dad a bigwig in the local Democratic party? Wonder if he was put up to it and hung out to dry afterwards. "No problem, if he's caught, they'll just let him go because he's a kid.." Going through other folk's emails is dirty business - I know, I had to do it as a sysadmin many moons ago and about barfed on what I found.
Organization? You must be joking..
The perp here is the son of Mike Kernell, a long-serving Democrat in the Tennessee state legislature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Kernell
Young David wasn't just looking around for any old account to break into, he was actively working on the account of a political opponent of his father's.
This also implies that David, despite claims that it was for "lulz", was almost certainly conducting a targeted search of her email. There would be no other reason for the son of a prominent Democrat to do what he did.
This is Watergate. The only difference is the desire of the American media to tar and feather those involved.