Hack into – and then publish – the email account of a major politician, especially one under Secret Service protection and currently running for Vice President, and you had better cover your tracks. Well. WBIR is among those reporting that FBI agents broke into a party at the Fort Sanders apartment of University of Tennessee student David Kernell early Sunday morning. A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed there has been “investigatory activity” in Knoxville regarding the incident where Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account was hacked and information published online.
According to a witness, several agents arrived at The Commons of Knoxville apartment block around midnight, took down the names of everyone at the party and then spent the next 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside the apartment. So far it looks like there are no publicly available search warrants, and no charges have been filed. Give it time. Witnesses say Kernell and his friends fled the apartment while his three roommates were subpoenaed.
It turns out that David Kernell is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis, and the blogosphere – especially right wing bloggers – has been cock-a-hoop about the possibility that the hacker in question is Kernell and the action was engineered by the Democractic Party. That includes Knoxville blogger and WBIR contributor Terry Frank who is helpfully (but with no basis in fact) posting images of Kernell’s Facebook page, although she has removed his mobile phone number. Nice touch.
As Wired reports, the blogosphere says someone going by the name “Rubico” on the 4chan forum admitted to hacking Palin’s email. Rubico’s handle was then connected to an e-mail address which tentatively identified the owner as a college student in Tennessee. It’s clear that the “hack” was simply created by reseting Palin’s password using her birthdate, ZIP code and information about where she met her spouse – all information freely available online. So who should be in court here? A college kid, or Yahoo’s email security people?
The college kid did something illegal and he should be prosecuted, and not only because this was Palin’s email account. If he is let go then anyone could hack an email account and we could do nothing about it.
I’m not saying that Yahoo and their users should not be responsible (and Yahoo need to fix their system no matter what) but we should at least have some legal recourse against those who think it funny to invade our privacy.
Just my 2c.
Agree completely…shame on TC for suggesting that nothing should be done to the criminal.
if that demonstrates anything, it’s that Palin (or her staff) is dumb enough to set up an account on Yahoo with such loose protection.
You’d want someone like that in the White House in charge of the atomic bomb?
This was her personal e-mail address. are you suggesting that having a personal Yahoo e-mail address should make you ineligible to be in the whitehouse? (COMMENT TO STEVEN DOLE)
there is no privacy in the 21 century. that can be a good thing. no where to run and no where to hide for any person or business doing the wrong thing. prosecuted, i dont think so. i dont want to spend 40-60 grand a year to put this guy in a federal pen. community service would suffice.
lets all focus today on the greatest “federal bank robbery” in the history of the US. 700 billion dollars worth. right in front of our faces and we cant do anything about it.
RealityLocator.com
People get ‘hacked’ all the time. But you’re all using the term ‘hacking’ FAR too loosely. This guy simply came across information, saw it, and entered it in. ‘Lo and behold, he’s in.
It’s her fault for not thinking of better questions to be asked when resetting her password. I mean we live in a world where people have their lives spread wide open on TV. People who don’t password protect their wifi connection, you really think that this guy should be prosecuted for this? Also who’s wise idea was it to use a YAHOO ACCOUNT for work? I’m sorry but you’re all being really biased on the whole thing.
I suppose if I leave my front door open and someone walks in, finds my personal info and posts it all over the internet, that he shouldn’t be prosecuted either? Oh, and let’s add that he changed the locks while he was there – it’s my fault for leaving the door open, right? He isn’t guilty of ANYTHING.
“Also who’s wise idea was it to use a YAHOO ACCOUNT for work? ”
We’re always hearing about how politicians are “disconnected” from the real people. When I see comments like this, I’m reminded just how much tech-geeks are disconnected from real people.
Regardless, you’re not going to get votes by being irresponsible and not maintaining the security of something like this.
Even in other countries Companies working in the government use their own email servers and whatnot in order to prevent internet ‘attacks’. If you left your key on the ground and the person uses the key to get into your house, LEGALLY YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO PERSECUTE THE ONE WHO TRESPASSED.
Learn about responsibility.
She didn’t leave the key on the ground. She put the key in a lockbox and this guy opened it through illegal means.
Charge 1: Trespassing
Charge 2: Theft by taking
Charge 3: Criminal mischief
Bogus Charge: Stupidity…..
If you want to play with the big boys, then be prepared to suffer the consequences and stop whining!
He found her information ONLINE. Not to mention [I think] in other news sources. She couldn’t secure her e-mail account, and is thus also to blame. The kid shouldn’t be charged with anything major, maybe a day or two of jail.
Okay folks, here’s a little down to earth information for you. WHO CARES IF THE INFORMATION USED TO RESET HER PASSWORD WAS AVAILABLE! Just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you can go around killing people with it. We live in a world with rules and laws to protect each and everyone of us. In a civilized society (aside from having a moral code), this cannot be tolerated and I hope, regardless who hacked Palin’s account, this person is prosecuted to fllest extent of the law. An example must be set. If we respected each other’s privacy a little bit more, this world would instantly be a better place to live. (i.e.-Iran meddling in internal Iraqi affairs, Russia staying out of Georgia, Palin’s pregnant daughter and the media fiasco)
It isn’t illegal if he had the KEY TO GET IN! Don’t you freaking get it?
palin email hack {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/3leUUVa180_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”palin email hack ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/ySDRo9cXlf”}}}
Should also mention I have a whole set of incorrect info I use for security questions. Comprised on inside jokes and other things, it would be next to impossible to fib your way through my bank/yahoo login.
Isn’t January 1st as easy to guess as figuring out your real birthday?
Yes and no, the bday is almost a throw away security questions because its so easy to crack. So you use creative answers for things like your mothers maiden name (never used the real one on any form/website) and your pets name.
The problem is not yahoo.com, is the people who use the yahoo…
That’s amazing!
I’ve got the same combination on my luggage!
Do you put Jan 1st as you’re birthday because you want to hide you’re identity somewhat or because it’s easier to complete the register forms in record time? I certainly hope that it’s not the former! :D
Seems pretty crazy stunt to pull – you can expect to create some heat doing something as high profile and audacious as this.
“So who should be in court here? A college kid, or Yahoo’s email security people?”
Uh, neither?
neither? are you insane. this kid admitted to breaking into her email specifically to find info to derail her chances at becoming president. i don’t care who you support or what you do, it’s wrong plain and simple, and if someone did it to you, you would be highly pissed off and don’t try and tell me otherwise. i am sick of the double standards. i will laugh at you all when mccain and palin win
@nat nat:
“This kid” has not admitted to doing anything. “Rubico” has admitted to breaking into the email address – and no one yet knows who Rubico is, or even if he/she did the deed.
Maybe in retribution for this anticipated, unproven and completely unclear “illegal act”, you could find some books to ban at the UT library, or perhaps you could give a lecture on the constitution?
Don’t laugh yet, buddy. :)
I don’t know, but I think you’re leader should be someone to trust, not a foundation-flushed face to appeal to the voters. Just because they harmed your precious Palin, doesn’t justify this case to be special. Fascists.
Also, let’s pretend for a second Sarah Palin wasn’t running for office. Should the individual person who works a 40-hour work week be subjected to hacking? COME ON! Globalization and the inter-connected world we live in is primarily based on electrons. This is the future of our world… digitized e-commerce, industy, etc… No one is deserving of having their information hacked, UNLESS it could be proven without reasonable doubt that the information would somehow lead to lives being saved. This was clearly aimed as a political stunt.. no lives saved, just lives lost.
It’s not hacking you twit. And this kind of thing happens every day, but the police don’t care. It’s only when politics is involved that shit hits the fan and they actually give a rat’s ass. He didn’t “hack” shit. And if she had nothing to hide, WHAT OF IT? The real PROBLEM is that she used a personal account for work to bypass laws HERSELF!
I agree with #1, they should punish him. Unfortunately this things happen every day, but not everybody’s name is Palin, so they don’t catch the bastard.
And that makes it okay to hack one person’s account but not another’s?? YOU ARE INSANE!! In your sick, twisted world, where do you get off dictating who is and who isn’t allowed to get hacked and have no legal repercussions? Go back to your World of Warcraft game, 64oz Big Gulp and 14-hour binge computer playing. Leave the world of morals and laws to us grownups.
Jesus Christ he was saying that the fact she’s getting special treatment is retarded. Learn to read you conceited cock.
Also, WoW, WTF brought you to that conclusion? And apparently you seem to have neglected the fact you’re discriminating gamers with that latter half of your post, utterly contradicting the upper half.
palin jail {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/mJF4m3izuJ_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”palin jail ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/QH7ojquk3v”}}}
Seriously, that’s the way you want to appear on this site?
“i think palin should go to jail for using yahoo mail”
isn’t it easier just to type that out?
I completely agree. If she had was using gmail it would be a different story. : )
Obviously that password is system is lame.
But suggesting the kid shouldn’t be in trouble is ridiculously stupid. By that logic if I come to your house, and find your key where you left it, under the doormat…
Did you honestly need me to point that out? I’m so disappointed with blue team this year. If you’re going to be biased against the woman, at least TRY and be coherent and sensible.
TechCrunch quote: “So who should be in court here? A college kid, or Yahoo’s email security people?”
As it turns out, Medeco locks aren’t as secure as we thought:
http://blog.wir...o-locks-cr.html
So imagine a college kid picks your lock, breaks into your house, rifles through your files, and publishes them on the Internet — who should be in court here? A college kid, or Medeco’s security people?
You should be ashamed for even posing that question. No wonder the right wing goes berserk with the left’s response to the situation – they have full reason to assume we’re a bunch of nutbags who disregard the law.
If someone breaks the law, they should pay, clear and simple. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue here, folks.
tell that to bush and cheney.
valerie plame, articles of of impeachment, 1 trillion dollar federal bank robbery.
clear and simple! everyone needs to focus.
ConspiracyLocator.com
No issue prosecuting them for their crimes, but don’t try to distract from the issue at hand. Hacker boy broke the law, big time. Yeah, maybe there are others that need some action imposed on them as well, but it shouldn’t be an “either/or” question. Neither side is absolved by the other’s guilt.
It should be Palin for disregarding government email and conducting her business using Yahoo. I’m sure foreign intelligence agencies will have no trouble figuring out her “sarah.vp@yahoo.com” email address and her secret answer whatever it is. And we all know that in Alaska she used Yahoo Mail to avoid the laws.
And the whole “hacking” is just a stupid charge. This woman can’t handle securing her yahoo email account…and she is supposed to handle this country’s security? Give me a break
@Andrew: Hey, so far she’s doing a lot better than certain White House administrations I could name. At least she didn’t “lose” her email. At this point, I’d be pretty happy to have a VP who’s totally incompetent when it comes to hiding her backroom wheeling and dealing. ‘Hell of a lot better than our current one, who is all too capable in that regard. :-(
@John – Actually nobody has been shown to break the law yet. Obviously, a crime has been committed, but I think what MH and Gabe were referring to was, you know, the concept of jurisprudence that assumes innocence until proven guilty… I love you people are so ready to skewer this kid with such ridiculous circumstantial evidence as “his dad is a Dem state rep” and “his facebook account shows he’s an Obama supporter”. Wow. Harsh damning evidence there.
Granted someone should get busted, because regardless of whether Palin was breaking the law or not by using a personal email address for state business, the authorities had legal jurisdiction in the issue. That they were seemingly doing *nothing*… well, I suppose that’s why someone decided to take the burden on his own… Still, should be ready to face the consequences.
Finally I think the question posed by techcrunch was kind of tongue-in-cheek. This is a tech website, and security is a major issue on the site, so to break into a Yahoo account so easily is something worthy of mocking Yahoo’s security engineers.
However, almost every one of these comments has already condemned this kid, which is just ludicrous, and exactly why *anyone* should go berserk regardless of political side, when people are assumed guilty before a trial.
Seriously, grow up and think before you start blabbing your idiotic left v. right punditry.
Wired has a post on what laws may have been broken:
http://blog.wir...-hack-migh.html
The post speculates that the hacker will see little to no jail time.
That sounds about right to me. Palin lost a lot of protection by using Yahoo! email. In case anyone has forgotten… the government (and tax payers) had provided Palin with a much more secure account that she chose not to use. She made the choice to use a flimsy Yahoo! account instead. Who knows what this woman would do with National Security documents if given the chance to be VP (or President)….
Go Vols!!
She can’t even secure her email account. How is she going to keep the country secure?
Mike – vote liberal much?
“has been cock-a-hoop about the possibility that the hacker in question is Kernell and the action was engineered by the Democractic Party. That includes Knoxville blogger and WBIR contributor Terry Frank”
real smart..if the democratic party was hell bent on getting into her personal yahoo email account that she doesnt exactly use for anything besides sending pictures and other benign matters, then why would they leave such a trail like this kid did that would lead right back to them..THINK about it! ugh.
There have been plenty of news reports out indicating that Palin would use (and encourage her staff to use) private email accounts for official correspondence because it can’t be subpoenaed as easily and isn’t archived in the same way as records of a government email system.
agreed. they still wouldnt use this kid to do what he did and what he did doesnt exactly take a mastermind hacker to pull off.a kid that left a trail leading right back to himself.
in the end, this is yet another matter that distracts us from talking about the real issues at hand.
Seems like a good (or smart) hacker would have covered his tracks a little better…especially considering (as mentioned above) that the secret service, FBI, and a whole mess of people you don’t want knocking on your door were involved!
Jake
NoteScribe: Premier Note Taking Software
Leaving aside political persuasions, this matter reveals the existence of a multitude of ignoramuses (or is that ignorami?)…
First, there are those ignoramuses who would blame the victim for improperly securing her account. Having used the security resources provided by Yahoo, seemingly the last alternative would have been not to use a Yahoo account at all. This same sort of claim is also made by those ignoramuses who would blame a rape victim because she dressed inappropriately.
Second, there are those ignoramuses railing against the victim for using a Yahoo account instead of an official government account. It would seem however, that the information released in the Yahoo account was only personal emails and photos, and did not involve any official business. Isn’t that what a Yahoo account is for? Undoubtedly, these same ignoramuses would have hypocritically railed against the victim for using an official account for personal purposes. Such ignoramuses are never satisfied.
Third, there are those ignoramuses who blame Yahoo for offering inadequate security for their email system. While there might be some culpability on Yahoo’s part, this is the equivalent of blaming the Sierra Club for wildfires in California… Yes the Sierra club may have lobbied for different forest management practices, but did they set the fires?
The common denominator for all of these ignoramuses (besides being ignoramuses) is that they fail to put the burden of blame on the true criminal. This may not be the college student identified in the news, since there seems to be a way to go to prove guilt, but whoever broke into the account is the criminal. The victim is not the criminal; the email provider is not the criminal; the criminal is the criminal. Huh! What a revelation!
The allegory you used is pretty off. It’s not so much a rape victim dressed inappropriately, more like a slender 19-year-old blonde with her legs spread and oiled while wearing a three inch skirt and sans upper-body clothing. Pleading for her to be taken with her twin sister Amber.
He had the ‘key’ to her ‘house’, thus it wasn’t illegal.
Thank you for so deftly proving my point.
Pity he legally isn’t much of a criminal.
No matter who wins this election this issue will only continue to get bigger. It will be the “Democrat’s Watergate”. On a broader level it shows what a direspectful generation the baby boomer parents raised.
You know the left over hippies who protested Vietnam and used Watergate to promote their countercultuer agenda. Now we have another even more extreme lawless generation who think its cool to disrespect your country in public.
Instead of complaining and wishing their party could manufacture another Media Packaged JFK doll they should head Jack’s call to be the best and the brightest and ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. That should start with some basic respect for your country and its laws.
Liberals are a bunch of hypocrites.
Where are all you guys who were freaking out because George Bush was going to personally spy on you by wiretapping your terrorist phone calls to Iraq?
But when a real life invasion of privacy occurs, you don’t really care. You talk about how it’s Yahoo’s fault or Gov Palin’s fault for using personal email for business. Anything but the real problem – invasion of her privacy.
Typical liberals: avoidance of personal responsibility, blaming the wrong party, double standards.
The word “Liberal” is not a slur, please stop using it as one.
They can ‘invade my privacy’ all they want. If I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m fine with it. Only those with something to hide cower from ‘big brother’.
At a school I used to go to (quite a while ago), they used to spot-check the bags and lockers. On one particular occasion, where people got flustered as to where they’d hide their ‘illegitimate’ items (school regulations, meh, they didn’t need their Tape players or whatever), I simply showed my ‘illegitimate’ item. Why? Because I trusted their reasoning, and while I did something wrong, they were still able to trust me. And a government and nation without trust is a bad thing.
Shpow calling people fascists is comical.
I’m a comical guy =D
Not really. Just a potty mouth.
Potty mouth? Fascists (plural of fascist) is a clean word regarding ones political outlook, you also forgot I was, you know, exaggerating.
If hacking “public” official’s emails/sites/etc results in disclosure of
certain information that public *needs* to know, so be it. After all
some of these so called “government officials” are tapping your phone
calls and intercepting your email all the time.
what a bad hacker
It’s not hacking at all. He simply used the information she left around to get in. He didn’t change any program code or modify any hardware to change anything, he simply used Yahoo’s security features and managed to get on.
well.. ‘hacking’! It occurs in so many varied forms that we can’t even sometimes say whether to jail him or honour him. But the invasion of privacy is something we all have agreed upon as worth of punishment. So what’s the issue on this. And we also need to educate the world about security issues. The ‘wise’ just stay bundled up monitoring and the ‘naive’ just keep getting hacked through simple means that just an half-hour session of education on the topic would have saved him/her. The ‘wise’ on the private hill need to come down to the aid of the commoner!!!! peace!
This is pretty much the ideal solution. It’s pathetic how easily these things can be broken into.
This shouldn’t be called “Palingate” – someone broke into HER email account – not the other way around.
So it should be “Democrat Dirty Tricks Gate”
Suppose this had happened to a Democratic politician (Biden, e.g.). You’d never hear the press calling it “Bidengate.” And you would hear certain pundits on TV yelling about “Republican dirty tricks.”
The double standard endures.
you people have a lot to learn about how “hackers” work. today’s secret word is “code kiddy”. previous generations referred to these folks as “patsies”.
1 – write 90% of the code and/or procedures necessary to hack someone
2 – enter an IRC channel or comparable social networking site (i.e. 4chan.org, etc)
3 – pretend to be inexperienced, or “stuck”… seek the help of others
4 – sit back and lolz as someone else completes your handiwork, associating their identity with your idea
5 – ? ? ?
6 – PROFIT!
****
tomorrow, we will discuss spoofing IP addresses, so that other innocent users get blamed for your nefarious actions. (also known as “identity theft”)…
****
I mean seriously… are all of you naive enough to believe that the son of a democratic senator just coincidentally happens to be the guy “behind” all of this??? lol @ you
>…coincidentally happens to be the guy “behind” all of this???
Of course, why not?. How about an ideologically driven son of a democrate who wants to break into an ideaoloically driven wacko of the Right.
Ahh, hey could be worse, he could’ve sent Pedobear images to all her contacts XD
People are too quick to jump the gun and point fingers when it’s politics. If Palin weren’t part of politics, you’d all be their laughing at her foolish mistakes. Stop treating her like a rape victim and realise she is neglecting her responsibilities, treat her like you would an actual person you do not know.
Agree with Fred. While it might turn out this guy is the guy/gal, innocent before proven guilty, especially when it comes to such an easily spoofed setup. And like others have said, what the heck is she or any other politician doing using personal email to conduct federal business. Ridiculous.
Hey, folks, time out on this whole political thing here. If Yahoo! is held responsible in anyway for this stuff getting out there then everybody can say “good-bye” to free online mail accounts. This is it, party over. If you don’t think that it’s a big deal to have only people who pay for email services on the internet then you create an entire permanent underclass in American society and the information they get.
Palin, Kernell, whoever – if email providers are able to be sued and held legally responsible to that degree they’ll all charge. It’s just a fact that Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, all of you with those accounts will have to pay or give up that ability to exchange information with everyone in your life.
Of course they’re not to blame, the comment at the end was tongue-in-cheek humour XD
Somehow a break in is different when it’s online? What if this kid went up to the door of a house and saw it was a particular kind of lock.
He know if he goes to the local hardware store they will sell him a key if he knows the owners birth date and when she first met her husband.
He gets that information, buys a key and breaks into the house. So you’re telling me when the cops catch him after he has shown what he stole at the local watering hole that he shouldn’t be charged with a felony?
What if the son of a Republican legislator was found guilty of breaking into Democratic national headquarters? Would you still feel he was guilty of nothing mroe than a misdemeanor?
If he has the key, he’s legal and not trespassing.
Plus, if you’re hacked it’s not “breaking into a house” at all. Different scenarios, not completely, but you can’t literally apply the same treatment you would to a burglar as you would to a guy who got into your yahoo account
And yes I would feel the same, I would call anyone who uses yahoo for official purposes a retard, and I would criticise one for leaving the answers to the questions asked to reset the password on the internet! It’s not complex at all, I mean for chrissakes would you guys stop acting as if he just raped someone in her house?
Reports say this hacker may have been hired by Obama campaign manager David Ploueffe. This turd is the son of a Tennessee elected state official (a Democrat) and has done work for Ploueffe.
If this turd broke in her house he would be in jail being punked by other left-wing loser democrats in the pokey.
Proving security weaknesses – good.
Spying – bad.
To prove you can spy but not actually do so isn’t that bad (though this kid probably should get a couple of days in jail). If we start using what this kid found in her email account against her, that’s another story entirely.
Indeed. My only qualm is that she may be in a place of power. It doesn’t affect me MUCH but it’s a problem if she can’t keep private things secure.
Someone is about as guilty as going through my real mailbox, taking my letters, and opening them up. Since, mail is interstate commerce, there could be a violation of privacy laws. And, that’s a federal beef. Also, since they didn’t have a warrant, there could be trouble there. It is illegal for a private person to record a conversation as it is to go through my mail. I think it was some news anchor in Chicago, recenty, is doing 3years in the federal pen for breaking into a co-worker’s email account.
Liberals really are a sad bunch. They will excuse any activity that furthers there own cause. I’m guessing these same commentators would go nuts if we found out that a Guantanamo Bay prisoner had their mail opened.
It’s up to Yahoo to secure personal email accounts. Most of the world has no idea that email accounts can be hacked that easy, and it’s not their job to know. Does you mechanic mock you for not understanding everything about the inner workings of your car? Her knowledge of of Yahoo’s security measures has no bearing on her ability to lead a nation. I’d be more concerned with someone who has never, ever, ever held an executive position (i.e. a position that requires you to make important decision effecting other people on a daily basis) in his life. JMHO.
The kid should face charges on par with identity theft. Yahoo should be told to beef up their security. And this should be pasted across every major newspaper, but not with the name “Palin-gate”, a flimsy attempt to muddy the wrong name.
find Bin-Laden yet? LoLz.
laughing out loud at the posts here…!!
1st. yahoo’s email system provides enough process to completely secure the login process. (at least from this kind of stuff) it’s up to the user to effectively use the functions. i don’t know if yahoo’s system kicks someone off for a specified amount of time if they try to login 100’s of times/sec. but that’s not what happened here.
2nd. the person who broke in, committed a crime. what type/severity will be determined by the authorities when/if they find the culprit. you can bitch right/wrong/severity all you want. if the authorities find the person, he’ll face a trail.
3rd. findiing public information, and using it to illegally gain entrance to private electronic systems is considered a crime. google for dumpster diving, social engineering to see how kevin mitnick got into systems. he never rewrote code to get in, at times, he’d pretend to be someone, and get an admin to give him a user/password, or he’d get information from dumpsters…
all information easily accessible to someone who wanted to find it, but it didn’t stop him from doing time in a federal place.
4th. this isn’t a blame thing from /for/against palin. personally, i don’t think she’s up the job of vp at this point. but she’s the person the repubs selected.
5th. i’m a liberal, so what’s your point, aside from the thing on top of your neck!
6th. i’m not sure you want to get into a conversation around ideology regarding political parties right now, considering that republicans have worshipped business for so long, but when business starts to screw up (at least at the top), you guys want to turn around and suck at the tit of gov’t with a serious assed hose!! but if you are into the ideological thing, i’m sure you’re screaming for your congressional reps to stop paulson, and hang the wall street companies out to dry, or at the very least, prosecute the corp mgrs!!
rant off…
peace..
A couple of different issues. The “hacker” did something illegal and should be punished. He was a moron for doing it from school computers and then bragging about it on some chat forums.
Palin was doing gov’t related emails through her personal Yahoo account. This is also a sign of stupidity. Like most people.. work email for work… personal email for personal stuff. This can especially be sensitive if she is doing work/representing Alaska in an unofficial/official way by using Yahoo email. It just goes further to show her lack of understanding current technology. Something doubly scary.. when you consider how non-tech McCain is.
Palin and the “hacker” both win awards for stupidity in execution of business.
Okay.. Using such examples as “…so if i leave my door unlocked and someone walks in and steals my things and changes the locks while there means they shouldn’t be prosecuted because i left the keys?…” and “..just because you’re handed a gun doesn’t mean it’s okay to go around shooting people..” aren’t really ways to justify the fact that you feel this kid should be prosecuted for using information given to get into Palin’s account. Granted, you are all correct, but things like that are 100% different then something like this. You wouldn’t give someone life for changing your locks on you as you would someone who was given a gun and decided to go around shooting people right? However, just because this kid was able to obtain public information doesn’t make him/her justified for effing with her account. With that said, people do things like that to people all the time just to make they lives a little harder or because they think it’s funny. Of course he/she needs to receive some sort of punishment for doing this, (it’s a form of identity theft, no? and technically is classified in the same category as stealing/tampering with people’s mail in their mailboxes?) but being sent to a federal prison is a little extreme. A hefty fine, community service, and even mandatory “awareness” classes would suffice. I mean really think about it, the only reason anyone is even making such a big deal about this is only because it happened to be done to a political figure and this kid was dumb enough to advertise his/her “conquest”, which i have to stay was an incredibly stupid move by this kid, because if just some schmuck had this happen, you all know, not a damn thing would happen to the person who did it. So, i say, if this kid gets sent to prison, everyone that screws around with people’s email accounts should as well. It all goes back to the whole celebrity DUI/DWI thing. They, more than likely, just get a slap on the wrist while the average person loses their license and gets 90-days. Let’s not use this kid to make an example, rather beef up the security, stop answering the security question with information you know is public information, or easily obtainable by the public, learn how to take better care of your personal and important records, and definitely stop using your personal email account for business purposes when you obviously haven’t taken the proper common sense measures to secure your privacy.