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10 Mar 2009
A 21-year old student accused of accessing Sarah Palin's email account and publishing what he found is facing 20 years in prison.
David Kernell, son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell, faces four charges: intentionally accessing the account without authorisation; fraud; unlawful electronic transmission of material outside Tennessee; and attempts to conceal records to impede an FBI investigation.
If convicted, Kernell faces 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 (£182,000) and five years' supervised release.
Kernell is charged with using publically available data to guess the password on then vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. He then passed the emails to online information site Wikileaks.
The case raised concerns that Palin was using her internet email account for official government business as governor of Alaska, and she was forced to hand over the account details. All official business is supposed to be carried out on government accounts for oversight purposes.
Kernell was originally indicted on a single charge of accessing the account without authorisation, but prosecutors added the other three charges recently.
The trial is due to begin in October, and Kernell has been released on bail under condition that he does not use his computer for anything other than school work.
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Do you agree?
Ban her from using a computer!
This indeed is ridiculous, why the differential treatment? Treat it as anybody's personal email account hacking would be treated. She's nothing special. If you put this kinda security for supposedly sensitive information, that is what should happen to you! Today, if you don't understand the importance of the stuff in your inbox and the security around it, you should not use internet at all! She's the one who should be banned from using a computer because of ignorance!
Posted by: A Shekhar 02 Apr 2009
this is stupid
It's not a hack. He didn't even guess her password. He used the "secret question & answer" fields to RESET her password. you know... like "what high school did you go to?", "what is your maternal grandfather's first name?", "what is the name of your pet?". Sarah Palin was stupid enough to answer these things with true facts which can easily be looked. This can and does happen to lots of people. If you or I get our email hijacked nobody cares. Even Yahoo doesn't care. Call them up and ask them. They will say that the security of your account is your responsibility. There would certainly not be a 20-year prison term associated with it. These charges are absolutely ridiculous. Only one thing should result from this and that is a life lesson about not typing in obvious answers to the PASSWORD RECOVERY questions. Anyone who thinks this kid did anything criminal is probably just as stupid as Palin. Let's reserve the JAILS for the VIOLENT, shall we? Oh, one other thing. The guy didn't technically gain access into "Sarah Palin's email". That email account does not "belong" to Sarah Palin. It belongs to Yahoo! Inc, and he used their legitimate password recovery process, which anyone can do to any email.
Posted by: kernell 17 Mar 2009
Oh my goodness
This is absolutely ridiculous. Fine him at the very worst. This is no different than any other kid guessing someone's security question--the only problem with the situation was that Palin wasn't being careful enough with the information entrusted to her. Punish them both conservatively.
Posted by: Jesse 15 Mar 2009
ridiculous
This is completely ridiculous that charges were even brought up. It is Palin's fault for having such an easily hack-able yahoo account. Any person with common sense knows how to create a secure password! Just give the kid a break and treat him like thousands of other hackers are treated: simply ignore him!
Posted by: Cindy 13 Mar 2009
Where to Lay Blame
Yahoo is not being charged with poor password reset procedures. Palin is not being charged with transmitting (and storing) political/sensitive data on a public e-mail account. Well, there was an inquiry, but nothing has been heard about a result. Thanks to Ron White for "You can't fix stupid" as it applies to this situation. Yes, blame the burglar for looking under your door mat to find the note that says where your spare key is located. Much more secure than leaving the key itself under the mat.
Posted by: Jerome 13 Mar 2009
Give me a break
A person kills someone, but it is a first offense and they can get less than this kid who hacked into someone'e e-mail. What is this country coming to. I realize there may have been sensitive issues on the e-mail but don't use private e-mail account for business then, Come on 20 years-PLEEEEEASE!!!!!!
Posted by: Lori Mertes 11 Mar 2009
LOCK HIM UP!
Ditto!
Posted by: CT Yankee 11 Mar 2009