Palin e-mail hacking probe reaches all the way to Knoxville

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:11pm

Tennessean: The son of state Rep. Mike Kernell has been contacted by authorities in connection with a probe into the hacking of the personal e-mail of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Kernell confirmed on Thursday.

The FBI and the Secret Service started a formal investigation on Wednesday into the hacking.

David Kernell is a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

I wonder if he will just refuse to comply with any subpoenas?

UPDATE: Bizgrrl brings our attention to the rest of the story. Back in the day, I believe they called this "social engineering."

UPDATE: Sharon Cobb says she has spoken with Rep. Kernell and that that the Tennessean story (as also quoted online earlier today by the Knoxville News Sentinel) is bogus. Wow!

UPDATE: Double wow! The KNS article which quoted the Tennessean article above has been scrubbed.

UPDATE: Triple wow! I just got off the phone with the Tennessean reporter who filed the first above quoted report. He says he spoke with Rep. Kernell but there was confusion and miscommunication about whether Kernell's son was the target of an investigation or just the subject of internet rumors, which the updated Tennessean report now reflects. The reporter said it revolved around various internet websites tracing comments back to Kernell's son, and that's all Rep. Kernell was saying. The reporter said the online Tennessean article was updated as soon as they were aware of the miscommunication and that the story is still developing.

UPDATE: NewsChannel5.com Nashville

But Kernell said, "We know of no investigation. I've not been contacted. He has not been contacted for any investigation at this point."

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UT Network Security?

Submitted by metulj on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:20pm.

Biting tongue. Biting tongue. Biting tongue.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

Don't know about security.

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:25pm.

Don't know about security. It doesn't sound like they are teaching ethics. The young man possibly had a decent career ahead of him. Oh, well.

I know someone who forgot

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:26pm.

I know someone who forgot their Yahoo email password (I believe Palin's personal email was on Yahoo) and Yahoo was no help at all in recovering the account and years worth of correspondence. Wonder if this kid could help this person hack in to their own Yahoo email account?

(Note: if you sign up for Yahoo or Google or Hotmail or whatever using fake info be sure to write it down.)

I guess it would have helped

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:31pm.

I guess it would have helped Palin to use fake info.

The hacker guessed that Alaska's governor had met her husband in high school, and knew Palin's date of birth and home Zip code. Using those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo Inc.'s service into assigning a new password, "popcorn," for Palin's e-mail account, according to a chronology of the crime published on the Web site where the hacking was first revealed.

Wonder how many people are

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 5:32pm.

Wonder how many people are trying to log on to her account at this very moment using the password 'popcorn'?

Obama Campaign Manager..linked to David Kernell...

Submitted by Flyrod on Sun, 2008/09/21 - 12:46am.

The Plot thickins.....

Video from Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe linked on David Kernell's Technorati Page.

libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com

So if someone links to a

Submitted by R. Neal on Sun, 2008/09/21 - 9:13am.

The Plot thickins.....

So if someone links to a campaign website they are part of a vast left-wing conspiracy run by the Obama overlords? That's hilarious. The right-wing antennas are receiving five by five, though.

The manufactured outrage over some kid's illegal prank is the most interesting aspect of all this. I guess they're embarrassed that they have picked a VP candidate who can get punked by some lamer too young to buy a beer sitting in his dorm room with a modem.

There they go again -- those

Submitted by Bbeanster on Sun, 2008/09/21 - 12:01pm.

There they go again -- those nutty Republicans.
I guess they've worn out railing about lipstick, so they're looking for a new way to distract the voting public from the issues in this election.

Mike Kernell has served in the Legislature since he was in his 20s, without so much as a whiff of scandal. He is unquestionably honest and in fact is one of the least affluent lawmakers in Nashville -- so much so that he is the butt of bad jokes.

Wingers can (and frequently do) legitimately disagree with his politics -- he's very liberal -- but I've never heard anybody accuse him of being dishonest or unethical. And attempting to tie him to some nefarious plot to sabotage Palin's emails doesn't pass the laugh test.

If his kid did this, it was a college nerd's prank, start to finish. Good luck to those who seek to prove otherwise. Maybe the time would be better spent teaching John McCain some geography (eg: Sometimes people who speak Spanish are from Spain, which is in Europe), Sarah Palin not to say Eye-Rack and nuke-ular.

Just what we need, another

Submitted by Brian A. on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 6:05pm.

Just what we need, another distraction for the media to pursue.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

The Stupid Train Rolls On

Submitted by SoBeale (not verified) on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 6:21pm.

Considering how shockingly easy it was to hack into this unsecured e-mail account, one wonders at the judgment of people to use Yahoo to discuss things like "CONFIDENTIAL ETHICS MATTERS."

Palin and crew clearly are not ready for prime time.

And oh yeah, I DO hope there is some follow up regarding the fact that she was clearly skirting open records laws by discussing government business in these e-mails to begin with.

Yeah, who am I kidding.

YahooGate - It's a Democratic Thing

Submitted by Ragsdale2010 (not verified) on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 6:23pm.

Now the Democrats can worry about the YahooGate thing.

Gives the University of Tennessee a lot of free publicity.

Further places Sara Palin as just a normal everyday person, who uses a free Yahoo account, not some swanky thing like ATT&T, ComCast, or AOL.

Let's see what comes of it, probably not much.

Of course the Republicans

Submitted by redmondkr on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 6:24pm.

Of course the Republicans are showing what they hope is enough indignation over this illegal hacking to mask the fact that she was using Yahoo to conduct state business in an effort to hide from legal scrutiny.

It's a bit like Busco getting their collective panties in a wad when the New York Times exposed their illegal wiretaps, one of those 'some thief stole my drug money' moments.

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Lets see

Submitted by Nobody (not verified) on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 1:34am.

Well maybe we can ask David Kernell if Palin really did use her yahoo for state business or if this was just another attempt to smear her. I'm sure we'll learn the facts soon enough.

Looks like the KNS "updated"

Submitted by Brian A. on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 8:27pm.

Looks like the KNS "updated" its story. I didn't read it earlier in the afternoon.

Did it declare that David Kernell had been contacted by investigators?

And what is the KNS using for sources? Drudge?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

The KNS story was a cut and

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 8:29pm.

The KNS story was a cut and paste of the Tennessean story quoted above.

One would think the

Submitted by Brian A. on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 12:17am.

One would think the Tenneseean would want to get those details straight before publishing. And is it now standard journalistic practice to publish articles focusing on "Internet rumors"?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Michelle "Stalkin'" Malkin

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 9:38pm.

Michelle "Stalkin'" Malkin has picked this up, unfortunately enough.

____________________________

the distance between black & white is much further than i would like until now i never noticed that fascism has many disguises -d. boon, 1981

where has it been shown that

Submitted by RedDog on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 10:25pm.

where has it been shown that she was conducting State biz on Yahoo? It looks like it was only political biz which would be inappropriate to conduct on the State of AK e-mail system

again - show me?

Submitted by RedDog on Thu, 2008/09/18 - 10:25pm.

again - show me?

Simple truth

Submitted by Nobody (not verified) on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 1:27am.

What miscommunication? Did FBI or Secret Service talk to David Kernell or Not? How many folks get a visit from these guys to get confused, or do the Kernells have other issues being looked into as well?

Oh contraire

Submitted by Factchecker on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 8:19am.

where has it been shown that she was conducting State biz on Yahoo?

NPR is reporting this hour (as a repeat of the original airing heard two hours ago) that Palin routinely used private accounts to conduct state biz. But I think what you're arguing is that she didn't break the law, but was just foolish and extremely secretive in the Rove/Cheney tradition. Should that give a warm feeling? And apparently she did flout the law too.

where has it been shown that

Submitted by KC on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 11:47am.

where has it been shown that she was conducting State biz on Yahoo? It looks like it was only political biz which would be inappropriate to conduct on the State of AK e-mail system

You mean like this?
Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=1&em=&adxn...

Privacy

Submitted by Nobody (not verified) on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 3:49pm.

Privacy is out the window when the Democrats aren't trying to protect it. Geez....what's next all conversations must be recorded.

Palin is wack

Submitted by ArleyCob on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 4:01pm.

She's so wacked.

ArleyCob

Crimes of the Democratic Party

Submitted by EP (not verified) on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 7:33pm.

This illegal hacking is just one more example of a party that will stop at nothing to gain power.

If Obama wins the election, say goodbye to your civil liberties.

This illegal hacking is just

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 7:46pm.

This illegal hacking is just one more example of a party that will stop at nothing to gain power.

That's hilarious. And ridiculous on so many levels.

Apparently EP has been

Submitted by Andy Axel on Fri, 2008/09/19 - 7:53pm.

Apparently EP has been hiding under a rock and is unaware of the NSA wireline surveillance program, Congressional immunity for telecoms that participated in it, and the scarcely precedented erosion of civil liberties in the last 8 years. For starters.

But it's all aimed at terrists, right?

____________________________

the distance between black & white is much further than i would like until now i never noticed that fascism has many disguises -d. boon, 1981