David Kernell

David Kernell and the Internet Challenge to the US Constitution

David Kernel was brought to public notoriety as the individual would began an intrusion into a poorly protected email account of Sarah Palin.http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/oct/08/arrest-made-palin-hacking-case/. An article about the event can be found at "Sarah Palin email hack" Sarah_Palin_email_hack.
David Kernell,was 21 year old college student who read about the then governor of Alaska's possible use of private email for government business in an article written in the Washington Post and New York Times. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903044.html.

He guessed her security questions and entered her email account quite easily using a feature of the account that allows users to recover a forgotten password.http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842097,00.html

On Going Legal Battle

According to court testimony Kernell was proud of his act and tried to boast about it on a internet chat board, only to find that no one believed him. He posted screen shots of her inbox and two attached pictures from email on to the chat site forum called 4chan.org under his yahoo email address, in an effort to convince others. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/20/david-kernell-palin-hacke_n_543988.html

In an attempt to further prove that he had been successful, he posted the new password on the site. Up to 14 others quickly entered the account, one called the labeled "The Good Anonymous" changed the password and took control, blocking Kernell and others from access.

On Sept 16, 2008 Wikileaks released " VP contender Sarah Palin hacked "http://wikileaks.org/wiki/VP_contender_Sarah_Palin_hacked showed screenshots of the then Vice-Presidential nominee's Yahoo email account gov.palin@yahoo.com. The list of emails demonstrated that Palin had sometimes used the account for government business. It had been previously alleged, and is the subject of an ongoing legal case in Alaska, that Palin was unlawfully using another Yahoo account, gov.sarah xxx to hide governmental deliberations from the courts and the Alaskan state archives. The leak was widely reported with over 3,100 media articles on the subject appearing in English alone. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Successes_ and_ three_near_misses_for_Wikileaks The internet site was also picked up by the mainstream media, specifically Fox which broadcasted the images over cable TV. news. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7622726.stm

After the intrusion Kernell deleted the five downloaded images and ran a defrag program.

Sarah Palin was subsequently ordered by a court to not destroy her Yahoo emails. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Palin_Must_Save_Her_Yahoo_E-Mails,_Judge_Rules

Kernell was convicted of obstruction of justice for the delete/ defrag, a felony conviction and a misdemeanor invasion of privacy having guessed her password and downloading five images to the /B board.

Constitutional Concerns

The resulting media storm led many to much discussion about email security, its use and limitations. Only Kernell was charged and put on trial for his entry. Many speculate that his prosecution is an attempt by the justice department to legally define the internet. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/10/tennessee-stude/ Kernell was convicted under a law that usually requires one alter governmental records, or those records that are required by law to be maintained. Since Kernell is a private citizen, questions have arisen to where the law is applicable to citizen. http://www.circleid.com/posts/malware_and_search_warrant/Constitutionguard (talk)