Palin's E-Mail Hacker Imprisoned Against Judge's Wishes

Em Adespoton writes "It was a computer security story that made headlines around the world, involving the private emails of a woman who could have become Vice President of the United States. And now, it's ended with a young man sent to a federal prison, hundreds of miles from his family home. David C Kernell, the hacker who broke into Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo email account, is reported to have been sent to jail despite a judge's recommendation that he should not be put behind bars."

Comments

Too fucking bad..

[intellitech]

"That is not the situation that his friends and family were hoping for, however."

No offense, but too fucking bad. Considering the state of our legal system, the guy was lucky to not get boned for the full four crimes he was initially charged with (which would have been a lot longer than just a year, by the way). He committed a crime, one that I personally feel has far-reaching effects as one's e-mail inbox should be considered fairly private. Yes, it was Sarah Palin, and I can't stand her either. Doesn't mean that this guy shouldn't be held accountable for his actions.

"The US Bureau of Prisons, however, has decided to make Mr Kernell serve out his term in the low-security prison camp nearly 300 miles from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee."

Seriously guys, when you're incarcerated, you don't have a choice which facility you will be housed in. The USBOP is obviously making an example out of this guy, and I can totally understand why. What I don't understand is why this article seems to be doing a lot of crying on behalf of Kernell. Don't commit the crime if you're going to whine all the way to prison. It's that simple.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[zach_the_lizard]

Perhaps they feel, as I do, that the punishment is out of proportion with the crime. Should he be punished? Yes, he should; he accessed email without permission. Maybe levy a hefty fine; no one was physically harmed or deprived of property, and he is no danger to society. As such, he doesn't deserve being locked away in a hole with more dangerous individuals.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Amorymeltzer]

It's probably because of this:

BBC News, however, reports that US government officials have intervened, and Kernell has begun serving time at federal correctional institute in Ashland, Kentucky.

When most people think of an ideal criminal justice system, they think of judges and juries, not government officials. This system does not seem to be a well-oiled machine:

The BOP is not bound by judicial recommendations, one legal expert said federal sentencing was often "arbitrary". "The judge can give either incarceration or probation, but if it's incarceration the state gives power to the Bureau of Prisons to determine the nature of incarceration," said Professor Robert Weisberg, director of the criminal justice center at Stanford University in California. "There is not a general or uniform US rule," he added. "There is huge local variation."

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to keep a person in jail?

Locking people up because they are stupid is enough to bankrupt any country. A much better punishment for nonviolent crimes would be community service (scaled to fit the gravity of the offense), where there's a net gain for society.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Anonymous Coward]

I see it the other way around, for such a crime to deserve a prison sentence it should be much more severe. Guessing someones password to yahoo mail, does not seem like a severe crime to me, if anything Sarah Palin should be schooled on password security and disciplined for sharing sensitive information over yahoo of all things. I work for a bank, and if i had emails on yahoo related to my work and got caught, i would be dismissed, end of story.

Making examples of people just because they have upset a celebrity figure is barbarian and i'm glad i'm not an American if this sort of thing is acceptable there. Where i come from everyone is equal, a crime against a politician holds the same weight as a crime against your average citizen.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me preface this by saying that the guy was an idiot and had absolutely no right to go reading someone else's email. He deserves some form of punishment. The legal system is supposed to be fair and consistent, however, and that does not in any way appear to be the case here. Take a look at a few other crimes which have been treated equally harshly.

Seriously guys, when you're incarcerated, you don't have a choice which facility you will be housed in.

Sure you don't get a say, but I find it a little surprising that the judge's recommendation was ignored.

The USBOP is obviously making an example out of this guy, and I can totally understand why. What I don't understand is why this article seems to be doing a lot of crying on behalf of Kernell. Don't commit the crime if you're going to whine all the way to prison. It's that simple.

The fact that they are making an example of him seems to reinforce the view that an individual invading the privacy of a political figure is somehow worse than the reversed situation. Sounds like a very bad message to be sending, to me.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Monkeedude1212]

This.

Most people argue that the prison system is to seperate the dangerous individuals from society. This guy is not a danger to society, no one is in danger of getting hurt. Put him on Parole for 2-4 years with community service where all his network access has to be reviewed by a parole officer. Long reaching, annoying punishment, that contributes back to society instead of sapping money.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[TaoPhoenix]

Oh, there's lots of oil.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Americano]

He's going to a minimum or low security facility, which is typically almost completely unsecured, and has a focus on work and job programs. We are not talking about "hard time" here. He'll be serving alongside white-collar criminals, not exactly a dangerous bunch.

From the BOP web site:

The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Ashland is a low security institution housing male inmates with a satellite camp that houses minimum security inmates.

And since the article calls it low security, but references the prison camp, he might be housed at either the low or min- security facility. Here's a description of the type of facility he's going to:

Minimum Security: Minimum security institutions, also known as Federal Prison Camps (FPCs), have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing. These institutions are work- and program-oriented; and many are located adjacent to larger institutions or on military bases, where inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution or base.

Low Security: Low security Federal Correctional Institutions (FCIs) have double-fenced perimeters, mostly dormitory or cubicle housing, and strong work and program components. The staff-to-inmate ratio in these institutions is higher than in minimum security facilities.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[jeffmeden]

Net gain to society? WTF. Are we advocating low impact crimes to help society? I can see some PSA's now - "Forget Jobcorps, come hack email accounts with us and help your community!"
This line of thinking also states for future potential crimelords that if you hack into email, your time is a walk in the park. If there is no deterrent then what is the point of the criminal justice system?

Wow, way to completely miss the point. Read sentences much? He meant that the COMMUNITY SERVICE was a net gain for society, since the perp has to do something productive to earn his forgiveness, instead of being locked up and supported by taxpayers.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much. In this day and age, it surprises the hell out of me that he thought he could get away with something as easily noticeable as hacking a presidential candidates email...unless he knew he wouldn't get away with it, and didn't care.

Oh, he was dumber than that. He was dumb enough to leave identifying information in the screencap (screencap is SFW, some of the ads are NSFW) he took.

By leaving the URL visible, it didn't matter how many proxies he was behind. There was a clear chain of evidence linking him to The Incident. Unsurprisingly, the Party Van showed up, and the rest is history.

Anonymous is legion, but on occasion, some Anonymous are very, very stupid. When Anonymous ceases to be anonymous, Anonymous thinks it's pretty funny.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Temposs]

The reality is that the US prison system is formed around the principle of punishment. If threat isolation was the primary motivation, our prison system would look much different than it does.

The system we have is descended from the mode of Christian thought that when a sin(crime) is committed, penance.is needed in order to make the person right with God. So, the prison system is set up as a kind of forced penance through societal punishment, This is why we still have the death penalty, too, while most other developed countries do not.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[anti-pop-frustration]

Exactly, do you even think for a second that this guy would be sitting in a federal prison if he had guessed your neighbor's Yahoo account security question?

This is very much a case of a commoner being dealt a disproportionally harsh punishment because the victim is part of the ruling class.

And Sarah Palin didn't even get a slap on the wrist for using her private email to shield government business from public scrutiny.

I remember September 2008, wasn't this the time wall street bankers nearly crashed the world economy? Anybody charged, convicted or sitting in a federal prison yet?

The system works.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[joeyblades]

if anything Sarah Palin should be schooled on password security and disciplined for sharing sensitive information over yahoo...

I had a neighbor that was robbed. However, like many crooks, these guys were none too smart and got caught. They tried to defend their actions by claiming that the victim had left a window unlocked and therefore deserved to get robbed...

Your argument sounds a lot like that...

Re:Too fucking bad..

[DerekLyons]

BBC News, however, reports that US government officials have intervened, and Kernell has begun serving time at federal correctional institute in Ashland, Kentucky.

When most people think of an ideal criminal justice system, they think of judges and juries, not government officials. This system does not seem to be a well-oiled machine

Then 'most people' need to get their heads out of clouds and learn a) the difference between an 'ideal' system and one that must function in the real world, and b) how the real systems works. (And it actually does work very well.)
 
Not to mention the summary and article are vastly misleading - if you read just the summary or the first part of the article, you'll be wrongly outraged. The truth of the matter is, he was sentenced to imprisonment and (drum roll please!) he was duly imprisoned. The judge's recommendations ('wishes') that he spend his time in a half way house have zero legal force or standing. The only 'intervention' by the 'officials' was to obey the (legally binding) result and sentence handed down by the court.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[rickb928]

"no one was physically harmed or deprived of property, and he is no danger to society."

Ok, so what in fact DID he do?

- Violated someone's privacy. This is a harm, and if you think emotional harm is not as intense as physical harm, I encourage you to say that out loud. You are wrong on that count.

- Oh, and this required the McCain/Aplin campaign to suspend use of email for a short period to reestablish security. How short a time? At the moment, even an hour could have had consequences. How about you giving up your email address and having all of your contacts notified of your new address. Much trouble for you?

- HIPAA violations carry penalties also. Do we want to start qualifying the nature of the privacy violation? No, you don't want to do that.

- Remember, his father was active in Democratic Party politics, he disclosed a fair amount of private information, and this was done at the 'height of the 2008 Presidential campaign'. This was not a random act of identity theft. Oh, and he did send stuff to Wikileaks. I'm not blaming Julian for publishing that, that's a separate issue, but Mr. Kennell knew what he waa doing, and it had an impact.

Oh, and to add to my concern that we are not properly understanding the FBOP decision, the judge recommended that this young man spend his time in a 'halfway house'. Besides the reality that he would have been in a 'halfway house' with 'more dangerous individuals' (a qualitative assessment I'm not qualified to make), that is not the result required by Federal law. The law specifices incarceration, and perhaps FBOP decided that this convict should first serve time in an actual facility, and then qualify for the relaxed status, as other convict have to. Or more succinctly, like any other convict, he does time like they do, special treatment is unwarranted.

Perhaps the judge should have sentenced him to probation? But that would open the judge to criticism of being improperly lenient, which is he is now getting a full dose of.

A lot of the responses questioning the DBOP decision seem to be focused on minimizing this young man's crime based on his age, naivete, and *apparent* lack of harm caused. For those of you who forgot, some of the impacts of his actions:

- 'Abusive' phone calls to most of the Palin family.
- Disclosure of other email addresses against the wishes of those owners.
- Disruption of communications with family, friends, co-workers, campaign staff.

This whining is another case of minimizing a 'soft' crime. Not much different from trying to excuse any number of crimes committed by young individuals, primarily based on their age. Be careful. The next victim could be you. Will you be forgiving based soley on their age?

Re:Too fucking bad..

[jahudabudy]

The reality is that the US prison system is formed around the principle of punishment.

And profit. Prisons are sub-contracted to private interests, that are paid in part on a per convict basis. There are documented instances of judges being convicted of taking kickbacks to supply more "product" to the prison industry, i.e. prisoners. There are simply some functions in a civilized society that must be stripped of profit motivation in order to insure justice.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[zach_the_lizard]

I think that it's gone far from some idea of penance. It seems that it's merely about retribution, a model of justice that serves no one.

I take that back; it does serve a few; the prisons and police get large amounts of taxpayer money, and the prosecutors and politicians get their "tough on crime" bona fides. The rest of us, though, suffer.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[Culture20]

The system we have is descended from the mode of Christian thought that when a sin(crime) is committed, penance.is needed in order to make the person right with God.

A more Christian thought regarding penance is "Go, and sin no more." the roman catholic version of penance is not Christian in origin.

Re:Too fucking bad..

[jollyreaper]

The fact that they are making an example of him seems to reinforce the view that an individual invading the privacy of a political figure is somehow worse than the reversed situation. Sounds like a very bad message to be sending, to me.

That's precisely the problem. I doubt I could get the cops to even talk to me if I said someone hacked my account. We have a case of a bad divorce and a guy reading his wife's email getting a felony conviction. I wonder just who her daddy is.

When justice is not applied equally and fairly, we have a serious problem. Someone steals my car, the cops aren't likely to ever catch him. Someone steals Palin's car, he's probably going to get 20 years in supermax.

Re:Not "hacked"

[JustOK]

was there a pizza in the car?

yeah...if you piss someone off..

[Anonymous Coward]

I speak from first hand experience that even if you're innocent, the system will do their best to get their hands on you in the worst possible way if they want to make you pay for something, possibly unrelated. For me it was a friend who did stupid stuff and I was trying to talk him out of it. The caught me on a technicality and got me in jail and then "accidentally" shipped me off to a medium security prison where I stood toe to toe with a guy who was facing 246 years(that is not a typo). All just to make me talk. I never did..fuck 'em.

Punishment - Crime

[symes]

I think the sad thing here is that this guy's future is pretty well screwed for what was (from memory) a fairly impetuous and unsophisticated crime. Sure he should be held accountable, but sending the kid to an institution where he is more likely to be released into a world of criminality with contacts that may like to exploit his rudimentary skills is probably not serving the best interests of his community.

Re:Punishment - Crime

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure he should be held accountable, but sending the kid to an institution where he is more likely to be released into a world of criminality with contacts that may like to exploit his rudimentary skills is probably not serving the best interests of his community.

Posting anonymously, for obvious reasons. According to the BOP's inmate locator, David Kernell is at FCI Ashland, which has an adjoining camp (FPC Ashland). He's almost assuredly at the camp since he's a non-violent criminal with less than a year until his release. I don't believe you can be at a camp if you have more than 5 years until your release.

I spent a few months at a camp and it wasn't too bad, for being prison. Everybody was just trying to do their time and get home. No gang fights. I never once had people asking me how to pull off some new crime. We played a lot of cards, and I read a lot of books, and played a lot of piano and guitar. It was a learning experience, seeing that we were all just a bunch of normal people who made some bad choices and who wanted to get home.

Judicial recommendation =/= prison placement

[celticryan]

FTFA:

"The judge can give either incarceration or probation, but if it's incarceration the state gives power to the Bureau of Prisons to determine the nature of incarceration," said Professor Robert Weisberg, director of the criminal justice center at Stanford University in California.

If the Judge didn't want him to go to prison maybe he shouldn't have sentenced him to prison time...

In case anyone forgot

[royallthefourth]

The account he broke into was being used by Palin to conduct state business that she wanted to hide from being recorded in her official state email account.

Just a reminder.

It's not so bad

[morgauxo]

I know someone who went to a minimum security prison. I suppose they might not all be alike but if they are sending him to one anything like my friend went to he has a year vacation to spend playing playstation games and/or in a gym occasionally interrupted by a class or two.

Now.. trying to find a good job with a conviction on his record once he gets out... That's the part which will suck for him.

Grrr, growf, we're gonna get him!!!

[bradley13]

Folks, take a look at the charges he was convicted of. Then think about this sentence.

Mr. Kernell was convicted of two charges. For breaking into Sarah Palin's email account, he was convicted of a misdemeanor for unlawful computer access. But a misdemeanor isn't enough payback for embarrassing one of the political elite. So he was also charged with a felony account of obstruction of justice. The FBI says that he erased data off of his computer. Specifically, he deleted his copies of Palin's emails, and then defragged his disk. He also cleared his browser history.

Well, duh. The kid did something stupid. When he saw what an uproar he had created, he tried to make it all go away. Wow, that really is grounds for a federal felony charge.

This isn't justice folks. This is payback for embarrassing one of our betters.