Hacker of Sarah Palin's e-mail found guilty - Polidicks

[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63T53P20100430[/url] [release][B](Reuters) - A college student who hacked into former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail account and posted some of its contents on the Internet was found guilty Friday. [/B] After four days of deliberations, a federal jury found David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic Tennessee state legislator, guilty of obstruction of justice, a felony, and unauthorized access of a computer, a misdemeanor. Kernell was cleared of a wire fraud charge, and the jury could not agree on a verdict on a charge of identity theft. Judge Thomas Phillips declared a mistrial on the identity theft charge but did not set a date for sentencing. The obstruction charge alone carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, while the misdemeanor count is punishable by up to one year in jail. Palin issued a statement on her Facebook page, thanking the jury and prosecutors and explaining the case's importance. "Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country's political elections. America's elections depend upon fair competition," the statement said. "Violating the law, or simply invading someone's privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans' sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates' private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election." A subdued Kernell had no comment, and he was released on bond while barred from using a computer except for school assignments and e-mail. Kernell's attorney had argued during the weeklong trial the hacking of Palin's e-mail account amounted to nothing more than a college prank, but prosecutors said Kernell had hoped to derail the Republican's campaign. Palin and her daughter Bristol each testified about the disruption the break-in had caused to both their personal lives and the campaign. "If there's any unauthorized access to computers, the Department of Justice takes that very seriously," said prosecutor Mark Krotoski after the verdict was announced in U.S. District Court. In September 2008, Kernell did a little research and some guesswork to answer security questions and gain access to Palin's personal e-mail account. At the time, published reports had questioned whether the then-Alaska governor had improperly used her personal e-mail to conduct official business. Kernell said he found nothing incriminating, but posted some of the account's contents online, along with a new password he assigned it. "The conduct was serious," Krotoski said. "He had every opportunity to pull out and not proceed." [/release] His defense pretty much boiled down to "I did it for the lulz."

Well, he's fucked up his life.

wait 20 years in jail? really? or am I not understanding this right?

Ah, doin' it for the lulz. Remember kids, if you ARE doin' it for the lulz: Be sure it's legal. Don't be a douche about it.

20 years. For hacking her email? Really? That's not extreme or anything. They let murderers off with less. This is so fucking stupid.

20 years is a bit much isn't it?

He made a great and selfless sacrifice by forfeiting his own future so the rest of us would have hard evidence of what a brainless tool Sarah Palin is.

To think fucking pedophiles get less time then that. Sickening, where is the justice in this..there is none.

you all would be screaming for a lynching if he hacked someone you respected.

What kind of idiot fucks around with a State governors email account, even if she is an idiot. It's 100% his fault.

I think Palin took a squat and shit all over justice. Well, she squated over the judged and pissed on him while he shitted on the idea of justice. [editline]03:34PM[/editline] [QUOTE=T2L_Goose;21657128]you all would be screaming for a lynching if he hacked someone you respected.[/QUOTE] No. I don't care who is hacked, there is no reason for 20 years on any sentence of this nature.

UP TO 20 years in jail is the maximum of the obstruction of justice charge

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;21657128]you all would be screaming for a lynching if he hacked someone you respected.[/QUOTE] Not really.

Holy shit, and rapists get the same jail time Internet, [B]serious fucking business[/B]

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;21657128]you all would be screaming for a lynching if he hacked someone you respected.[/QUOTE] Not really. He hacked into someone's email. Big deal. He didn't harm anyone.

Does anyone have the original article for Sarah Palin's email got hacked?

This is pathetic. Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! email address to conduct Government business. The email accounts set up for Governors, Senators, etc are secure so exactly things like this don't happen. He didn't even "hack" her. He manually brute forced her account(guessed her password repeatedly), so her password must have been relatively simple.

Is there some way we can help this dude?

[QUOTE=Gordy H.;21657260]This is pathetic. Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! email address to conduct Government business. The email accounts set up for Governors, Senators, etc are secure so exactly things like this don't happen. He didn't even "hack" her. He manually brute forced her account(guessed her password repeatedly), so her password must have been relatively simple.[/QUOTE] No I'm pretty sure he answered her recovery questions using google search

[QUOTE=Haxxer;21657267]Is there some way we can help this dude?[/QUOTE] bake him a cake with a file in it

[QUOTE=Gordy H.;21657260]This is pathetic. Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! email address to conduct Government business. The email accounts set up for Governors, Senators, etc are secure so exactly things like this don't happen. He didn't even "hack" her. He manually brute forced her account(guessed her password repeatedly), so her password must have been relatively simple.[/QUOTE] I'm sure the biggest word she knows is 8 letters long and no more, so I think we're all able to get in there after enough time.

[QUOTE=Gordy H.;21657260]This is pathetic. Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! email address to conduct Government business. The email accounts set up for Governors, Senators, etc are secure so exactly things like this don't happen. He didn't even "hack" her. He manually brute forced her account(guessed her password repeatedly), so her password must have been relatively simple.[/QUOTE] P. much this. The info was obtained from wikipedia. He simply used the security question, which was her birthday, and the place where she met her husband, and such things.

[QUOTE=B1N4RY!;21657231]Does anyone have the original article for Sarah Palin's email got hacked?[/QUOTE] [url]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/09/4chans-half-hac.html[/url]

so if someone hacks my email and they post the content on the web the person that did that can get 20 years in prison?

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;21657283]I'm sure the biggest word she knows is 8 letters long and no more, so I think we're all able to get in there after enough time.[/QUOTE] "mrsmaverick"

Then how the fuck is this even worthy of sentencing? if anyone should be sentenced it's Palin for failing to even follow regulations in regards to this. It's not his fault that her password was so easily reducible.

[QUOTE=Gordy H.;21657260]This is pathetic. Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! email address to conduct Government business. The email accounts set up for Governors, Senators, etc are secure so exactly things like this don't happen. He didn't even "hack" her. He manually brute forced her account(guessed her password repeatedly), so her password must have been relatively simple.[/QUOTE] It's Sarah Palin, how wise do you expect her to be?

[QUOTE=ramblingoxen;21657319]so if someone hacks my email and they post the content on the web the person that did that can get 20 years in prison?[/QUOTE] if anyone cared about it enough to bring up the legal ramifications, sure

American Justice strikes again.

[QUOTE=Quo Vadi;21657337]if anyone cared about it enough to bring up the legal ramifications, sure[/QUOTE] If someone managed to get into mine and didn't really do anything with it, I would have just laughed it off, give him a pat on the back and said "Good work." God, people are whiny bitches today.