Horserace
September 22, 2008 4:50 PM

FBI Investigates College Student In Palin Email Hack

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Sarah Palin
The FBI has a suspect in its investigation into who broke into GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account.

His name is David Kernell, and he's a 20-year-old University of Tennessee student and the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell.

CNET reports that the FBI searched Kernell's apartment over the weekend, and local media reports suggest that three of his roommates could testify before a grand jury in connection to the case this week.

The person who got into Palin's email account did so by entering her personal information in order to reset her password; aside from easily accessible information like Palin's birthday and ZIP code, he or she had to correctly answer the question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" The correct response, as deduced by the person who infiltrated the account: "Wasilla High."

Last week, Mike Kernell, the father of the apparent suspect, told the Associated Press, "I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything."

The AP reports that "During the break-in, the hacker used an Internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville." Experts told the news service that the person who broke into Palin's email left an easy trail to follow.

Palin reportedly sometimes used a Yahoo! account to conduct state business, though the only relatively insignificant personal information from a separate account was made public as a result of the email break-in.

Add a Comment
by singlasalil8 September 23, 2008 6:17 PM EDT
Please check this out ... the most comprehensive page of information on Sarah Palin on the Internet ... including videos of her saying the Iraq war is a "task from God," stating her proposed $30 billion pipeline is the %u201Cwill of God,%u201D and that a month ago that she doesn%u2019t know what the vice-president does. Also her recently praising the biggest pork barrel spender in Congress -

http://dailysource.org/palin

It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, excerpts, and links to hundreds of articles, including many from newspapers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage footage you won%u2019t find anywhere else, including her telling the %u201808 convention of the Alaskan Independence Party, whose aim is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S., to %u201Ckeep up the good work.%u201D The level of research is unparalleled.

The site%u2019s editors and volunteers include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Monitor%u2019s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association -

http://dailysource.org/about/team

Americans have the right to know more about anyone who might be a heartbeat away from being president.
Reply to this comment
by joewilliam2 September 23, 2008 5:03 PM EDT
Here is the latest word on Sarah Palin''''s hacker. He is the son of a democratic congressman. Now it should be pretty clear who is behind this illegal hack.
a href="http://www.identitytheft.com/index
.php/article/suspect_sarah_palin_email" http://www.identitytheft.com/index.php/a
rticle/suspect_sarah_palin_email /a
I can''''t believe the democrats are playing such a dirty Chicago style politics. This guy need to be punished for what he did.
Reply to this comment
by joewilliam2 September 23, 2008 5:02 PM EDT
Here is the latest word on Sarah Palin''s hacker. He is the son of a democratic congressman. Now it should be pretty clear who is behind this illegal hack.
a href="http://www.identitytheft.com/index.php/article/suspect_sarah_palin_email" http://www.identitytheft.com/index.php/article/suspect_sarah_palin_email /a
I can''t believe the democrats are playing such a dirty Chicago style politics. This guy need to be punished for what he did.
Reply to this comment
by slarabee September 23, 2008 12:52 PM EDT
Whether or not this hack contitutes a crime is yet to be determined. The DOJ in it''s efforts to retain the ability to read citizen email without a warrant made a determination that reading email that has already been opened is not a crime.
That aside Palin is an idiot and I wouldn''t hire her to clean my offices let alone handle any of my company business.
I suggest that lordmi find a better email system than yahoo. Email service is very cheap. You can get a domain of your own and email for under $10.00 per month.
A person in Palin''s position should know better.
Reply to this comment
by lordmi September 23, 2008 12:11 PM EDT
so, she pretends - she is like me?
Well, my yahoo acount, that I am also using as business account on ebay has been hacked 3 times during last year.
She is like me?
i wish FBI investigation of all my 3 cases.
Thank You for consideration
Woman, 55, sure - against McWar and Pit Bull.
Reply to this comment
by jmurrieta11 September 23, 2008 10:05 AM EDT
The FBI "mistakenly" pried into thousands of email messages without a warrent.

No investigation.

One hacker breaks into a standard email account, making a Republican bigwig look bad.

FBI springs into action!
Reply to this comment
by kight67i September 22, 2008 10:51 PM EDT
OLDWHITEGUY1 Are you kidding? First, Bristol Palin is 17 and underage. Second, being underage and pregnant isn''t against the law. This is a young man over 18 (20, I think) who obviously thinks that since his father is a Democratic rep. for the state of Tennesee, he is above recourse. If this information is correct, he should be held accountable.
Reply to this comment
by skyb6 September 22, 2008 10:37 PM EDT
In most, if not all, states breaking into an email account is considered a criminal act just like opening someones US mail. Last time I checked - getting pregnant was not.

If it is found that the information regarding the breakin by the Kernell boy is correct he should be prosecuted. Opening anyones mail should not be tolerated.
Reply to this comment
by oldwhiteguy1 September 22, 2008 9:55 PM EDT
So are politicians'' kids still off limits? If it turns out a dems son hacked Palin''s email, will it become a ''worse'' offense than a pregnant daughter?
I hope not...
Reply to this comment
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