Legal News

Say it Ain?t So, Rubico! Sarah Palin?s Alleged Email Hacker Indicted

By Dan Slater

When David Kernell — the 20 year-old son of a Democratic state rep, aka “Rubico” — was supposed to be studying economics at the University of Tennessee, he was allegedly hacking into Sarah Palin’s email, according to a recently unsealed indictment.

Today, Kernell, son of Mike Kernell, chairman of Tennessee’s House Government Operations Committee, pleaded not guilty in federal to charges that he intentionally accessed Palin’s e-mail account without authorization. He was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

From the indictment:

On or about September 16, 2008 … Kemell gained unauthorized access to the e-mail account gov.palin@yahoo,com, by resetting the password using Yahoo’s password-recovery tool. Specifically, he reset the password to “popcorn” by researching and correctly answering a series of personal security questions. . . .

Once defendant Kernell established control over the e-mail account by changing the password, he read the contents and made screenshots of the e-mail directory, e-mail content, and other personal information. The personal information included, and was not limited to, other e-mail addresses of family members, pictures of family members, at least one cell phone number of a family member, the dates of birth of Governor Palin and another family member, and Governor Palin’s address book for her Yahoo e-mail account. The screenshots of personal information obtained from the gov.palin@yahoo.com account were posted to a public website on the Internet known as http://www-4CHAN.org. Defendant Kernell posted the reset password, thus providing the means of access to the e-mail account to others.

Today, young Kernell was released without posting bond, according to the AP, but the court forbade him from owning a computer and limited his Internet use to checking e-mail and doing class work. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Trial is set for Dec. 16. (Here’s more on the investigation from the Huffington Post.)

Kernell’s attorney, Wade Davies, said: “As soon as we found out about the charges this morning, David voluntarily turned himself in.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).