Sarah Palin's Email: A Crime Used To Expose A Crime?
By Jamie Saturday Oct 11, 2008 3:00pm
By now everyone has heard about David Kernell, the 20 year old college student who hacked into Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. He was indicted this week on charges for illegally accessing Palin's account and could get up to five years.
This case has raised a few flags to some in the public. First it leaves one wondering why the DOJ took such an active role in going after this guy. Email accounts get hacked on a daily basis, not to mention bank accounts and other items of higher fiscal value, yet the DOJ puts these on a low priority list.
The other big flag is that the hacker actually uncovered some violations by Palin:
The Justice Department seems to be setting one of its amazing new rules. When a Republican political figure is damaged in her expectation of being elected to office, it is telling us, that’s a felony. And why is that the case here? Because the hacker helped establish something important: Sarah Palin has been systematically violating the Open Records Act. As David Corn has noted at Mother Jones, Palin relied heavily on private email accounts for improper purposes. As governor of Alaska, she was obligated to maintain as public records her communications with respect to her discharge of official duties. Palin skirted this obligation by turning to private email accounts for government related dealings. In fact, the hacker in question helped flush out Palin’s violations. The hacker also helped establish a motive for the illegal conduct: Palin regularly involved her husband in official business, and it’s easy to understand why she did not want to leave behind evidence of her husband’s involvement.
(emphasis added)
I'm sure some out there would come to Palin's defense, claiming that this evidence wasn't properly obtained, however such issues have already been argued in court. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on a similar case where a hacker turned over evidence that eventually lead to the conviction of some involved in child pornography. The basics of the case are the same, someone used illegal means to gain access to someones personal email account. The information obtained by those means lead to the conviction of the victims of the hack. The court claimed it was a 'loophole' in federal privacy law.
So why isn't Palin now facing questions about her violation of the Open Records Act? Hopefully more in the media will start asking her about this.
So why isn't Palin now facing questions about her violation of the Open Records Act? Hopefully more in the media will start asking her about this.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Simple answer. She is a Republican and we have a Republican Justice Department. I don't know if Alaska's Justice Dept is run by a Republican, but I assume so.
Brawndo:
http://i33.tinypic.com/sy8t2x.png
VP: So easy a Palin can do it:
http://i35.tinypic.com/34yxz61.jpg
Palin Pinocchio Puppet
http://i34.tinypic.com/2rw2m2t.png
McCain with Palin Hand Puppet
http://i35.tinypic.com/103j1nk.png
Big Nose McCain with Jiminy Palin + Dino Palin
http://i36.tinypic.com/2iw9ki1.jpg
Interviews: Can Palin do them?
http://i33.tinypic.com/2s7tgma.png
Don't Get Fooled Again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD1UjWlxsNI
Video that says it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb0A5oSTqZ8
A judge in Alaska this week, in response to a citizen lawsuit about the private e-mail accounts,ordered Palin to preserve the e-mails on the private accounts.
of the Open Records Act?"
Because she's anointed by god? Because the witchdoctor put a magic spell on her? Because she's a Republican? Because the MSM has it's collective head up its a$$?
1. Haven't you figured out after 8 years of the Bush regime that there's a different standard of evidence for Republicans? They pretty much control the courts these days.
2. The Corporate Media is too busy huffing and puffing over ACORN to pay attention. They have there own standards of evidence as well: If it's a Democrat, none needed for an accusation to stick. If it's a Republican? Well, it's just old news.
I'm sorry, but I object to the characterization of what David Kernell did as "hacking."
1998, a California/Israeli teenage hacker named Ehud Tenenbaum (he nicknamed himself "Analyzer" because his M.O. was to use a 3Com Flipswitch Analyzer to trick/corrupt the phone/modem lines, to cover his tracks... WAY cooler than proxies, and unfortunately a dated methodology in today's network environment) broke into India's defense computers - via Pentagon/Israeli connections - and grabbed data/images of India's illegal nuclear program.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/09/penta...
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-99683.html
this created a conundrum. how does one prosecute criminal activity, which exposes greater criminal activity? well - this particular fairy tale ends with Mr. Tenenbaum getting a 6 month "sentence" of "community service" to Israeli intelligence agencies, followed by lucrative consulting gigs.
now. more recently, Mr. Tenenbaum is once again wanted for questioning for criminal computing activity, although he maintains that the "evidence" against him is actually a proof-of-concept false attack. in other words, work-related and not real:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/the-...
but the moral of the story is, Mr. Tenenbaum committed illegal digital trespassing, and was rewarded with lucrative consulting gigs the rest of his life.
now I know Mr. Tenenbaum's crimes were committed in a pre-9/11, pre-Patriot Act world... and I know the terrible unjustices the feds used against people like Kevin Mitnick to "make an example" and "send a message"... but the standard operating procedure against the kinds of "black hat" hackers like Mr. Kernell...
has been to reward them with a lifetime of hotshot consulting gigs.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Kernell is going to be briefly and publicly scolded... then quietly rewarded... all for the "clandestine" efforts he went through by clicking a couple of "I forgot my password" Yahoo screens.
you can bank on that.
in today's turbulent economy, we could all use job security like that. incidentally, I heard Rove likes using Hotmail accounts to discuss things like extradition and torture and vote-rigging.
hhhhmmmmmmmmm... ;)
What irks me is that no one is getting arrested for doing the EXACT same thing on phone calls for the past couple years. I mean come on. I am, without a doubt, for privacy of anyone, and doing things the right way when it comes to busting people for shit, and thats true even of Mrs. Joe Six-pack. But this absurd; a 20 year old kid gets nicked for hacking her email and dozens, if not more, people authorize warrantless wiretapping, and they get let off the hook?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCZcrK6J9Xk
conservatives have always understood that when it comes to politics, people rarely act in their rational self-interest but instead on emotion, fears and the perception of their interests.
I dunno. If she was emailing her husband, it may be a stretch to say it was related to her role as governor. If she emailed him to ask for some advice, isn't that a personal email? Are a politician's family discussions part of the public record? I don't know all the facts yet, but from what is said here, I don't see any violation.
Read the damned article in Mother Jones by David Corn for crissake! She was using private email accounts to conduct government business. Tell ya anything, there, bub?
She learned it from her 'mentor' cheney...don't that scare the hell our of you and if it don't ... think again it should!
As you have ceased to be a nation of laws, this will go nowhere.
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/132548
i'm just saying
I can imagine her with antlers.
Joe Sixpack can relate to Bullwinkle. And Homer Simpson -- D'OH! And Officer Barbrady. And especially Eric Cartman. I think that's the kind of "cute" we're talking about here: whatever reinforces the idealized self-image of trailer-trash.
Sorry, I remember my Rocky and Bullwinkle days and couldn't resist...
Kittens are cute too. But if you slip on a banana peel, your adorable li'l kitteh will still devour you face-first, starting the very instant your last breath is expelled.
I doubt Palin will be so patient.
i hear the cheeks are the most delicious part
You have to tear open the package where it's perforated -- the lips provide that convenience.
And "cute" Governor Cattypants has already shown that she knows right where to find America's soft underbelly: Fear, born of ignorance, and whipped into mindless, bloodthirsty hatred by "folksy" insinuation and outright lies.
She knows her profession all too well. It's just not the profession we read about in school.
You think she's cute? Scrape off the spackle and I'd bet she's fugly. Beauty pageant pretty, in other words.
please change the article
kernell has pled not guilty...so he "alledgedly" hacked the email account
he has been charged with a felony, but it should be a misdemeanor
Naturally they don't want a precedent for prosecution of same.
Well, I'm sayin' that the Palins were too stupid to know that they had to use official e-mail to communicate. Don't give them credit for skirting the laws, they were just too stupid to know there are actually laws in place that dictate how elected officials have to communicate. After all, it's Alaska. Who's going to track that, unless, of course, someone asks me to run for the Vice Presidency. We all know THAT will never happen because I am Governor of Alaska!
Hey! She's a Rethugnikan. No big deal. Because she's a Rethugnikan, it's totally OK for her to do this. Nothing to see here... move on.
If the White House can "lose" years of e-mails concerning the lead up to the Iraq war without consequences does anyone really think that the next VP wouldn't get similar deference?
Tough luck for the hacker. He was probably renditioned to the tundra where they waterboarded him with slushies and boiled him in whale blubber. They'd really throw the book at him but Palin had them burned.
To bad our hacker didn't start work earlier on the bushco executive branch, they're the criminals. He's a good citizen proving what a future cheneyite she's going to be!
Original Hack:
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09...
Punishment:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/...
Upshot: Hack anonymously and bring the dirt to light.
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yah...
I was under the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that evidence collected illegally can't be used when that evidence is collected by law enforcement. This evidence was acquired by a private citizen and so the evidence itself is eligible for use in a court of law. Somebody clue me in if that's wrong.
I can only second your guess. I will definitely google that, but I think you're right.
I know the "fruit of the poisoned tree" line is used when law enforcement finds evidence that points to a crime different from the one a defendant was originally charged with, but it was collected illegally so it cannot be used.
That really explains why no one new much about Palin before McCain announced her as his running mate for VP. She's been spending all these years at the knee of the current VP..... in training!!!!
Evidence is not tainted when it is illegally obtained by a private citizen. Only when the government illegally obtains evidence is the evidence excluded as fruit of the poisonous tree.
Sheesh, the more I hear of this woman the more she reminds me of bitchy, devious managers in corporate hellholes that beg to be thrown out a very high window.
She's Karl Rove and David Koresh packed into one pair of size-seven stilettos.
Might be fun for a kinky one-nighter (or not!) -- just don't let her mix you a drink!
Doi!
http://www.stinque.com/2008/10/10/talibunny-i...
holy crap don't put me in a position to defend this idiot. this report card was debunked almost as soon as it was released. we're better than this
The Leona Helmsley defense applies except in this case the object is laws, not taxes: Only the little people obey the laws.
Stop calling him a hacker. He is not some nefarious cyber-criminal. There was no hacking done. He hit the "forgot my password" button on yahoo, found out the answer to her personal hint question, and reset her password. I can't find anything illegal in that.
Calling him a "hacker" is pure sensationalism. Anybody could have done it with a little thought. No l33t programming skillz needed.
Though nowadays I imagine they do have a law against it anyway. But it wasn't even remotely "hacking".
this hacking has cost her a ton of money. i understand she was close to a deal with the nigerian minister of defense
didn't get her on Tasergate, the Bridgegate, the Babygate, I know...let's try Emailgate!! Yeah that'll really getter'.
Ya Sure Ya Betcha!
The vasaline she's dipped in should wear off soon, but then again she's GOP nothing will stick!
This whole story confuses me terribly. Perhaps someone can shed some light on the subject. Assuming that the indicted youth did in fact figure out a way to hack her email by getting Yahoo to reset the password, I don't see how this is a crime. I do think it is a Terms of Service violation on Yahoo, but not really worthy of the FBI's attention.
Is this a crime on it's own, or just because it was a VP candidate?
I don't mean to sound like I am condoning the hacking, but I just don't see the big deal here. It tends to point out the stupidity of using a non-secure email service. Had it been an official government email server, that is clearly a crime, but not a Yahoo account.
When she first comes out you can hear the boos. Then Flyers blast music and piped-in cheers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzABRosjd4o
Isn't that her supposedly 6 month pregnant daughter with her?
Shortly after Palin was announced as VP, she said her daughter was 5 months pregnant to quell the rumours that Trig Palin was not Sarah's, but was Bristol's.
The daughter does not appear to be showing any signs of being pregnant (now), and she is supposed to be 6 months.
I still think that the "Drilla from Wasilla" is not the mom.
Peace.
McCain Rally Pastor: Obama Win Insults God
At a McCain event, as the crowd waited for McCain himself to arrive, Pastor Arnold Conrad of the Grace Evangelical Free Church of Davenport, Iowa, gave an invocation that included the following: "I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/...
Until McCain can display the leadership needed from him to stop people like that pastor from making such theologically divisive remarks at his campaign events, he should not display hypocrisy when Politicians like Rep. Lewis accuse him of using divisive tactics. Lewis is NOT even associated with the Obama campaign and is NOT stumping for Obama like ALL those stoking divisive rhetoric at McCain's events including His own veep ...
That pastor's church should be put on the tax rolls immediately.
Second of all let's make this clear...God is all of them, Allah, Buddah, whatever, so long as God is love and goodness it's God. If it's morons speaking for God about their team being the 'good' team and the other evil then it's evil!
God's will never controls what happens here on earth, he put us here with the temptation of good and evil and free will to choose. So when bad things happen like the rape of a child, or bushco's robbing the election....it's not God's will. Though God gives us the strength to survive...he does not and should not be blamed for mankinds stupidity!
So church people your team successes and losses are no ones fault, but your own and all churces should be taxed and if by chance they do something charitable then like us Joe Citizens they can write if off. They (all churchs) are business, period point blank!
Recently our courts struck down a law which prohibited the sale of "crush videos", in which (usually) small animals are crushed under objects such as a woman's high heels. Their reasoning? Animal protection does not rise to the level of child protection, therefore this restriction on "free speech" is not warranted.
Given this level of idiocy, I fully expect a court to rule (with precedent) that since unlike the case heard by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, this does not involve child pornography, there is no loophole for David Kernell, hero though he may be.
E-mailing government business activity to ones spouse is a violation of confidentialty of the people conducting government business in the Governer's office presuming their opinions and suggestions are not privy to private citizens, if Todd Palin recieved these e-mails, then I assume the rest of the citizens are entitled to recieve them too.
They (the Palin's) are as corrupt as they come, period!
...And yet those Repug staffers who broke into the Congressional email accounts of Dems to get oppo research have never been charged. Almost makes you think there's a double standard here...
bush and administration are a shitpile. palin will fit in perfectly, as she is a piece of the shit pile. Too bad McCain is tainted by her association, I'll never believe McCain chose palin, he seems to be reasonably intelligent and commonsensical. palin is as ignorant as a cold dog turd, a perfect representative for the repuglie party today. Until the pieces of shit like rove and his associates are purged by the good people of the right (if any are left) the repuglies deserve to be ground under the heels of the American people. If this condemnation seems harsh, just recall the million innocent people dead in Iraq, the four million displaced there from their homes, the total fuckup in Afganistan, Katrina, now the financial breakdown, all as a result of putting someone in office who is as ignorant as palin. I personally might have voted for McCain, but never with someone as dangerous as palin as his running mate.
McSame has made bad choices all his life, passed school 5th from the bottom of his class, shitty in flight training, stupid move on the USS Forestal, shitty piloting 3 months after USS Forestal, admitting to N.Vienam he's an Admirals son to get special treatment (yes he didn't leave when allowed, because he was treated better...all the propaganda films they starred him him helped them), his contined support of banking and business deregulation, his slutting around on his 1st wife because he knew he's never make admiral so to fund his new career choice, using his 'new found POW celebrity' in finding the sugar mommma (plus his wife was not sadly deformed because while he was a POW she suffered worse after an awful car accident leaving her too ugly and poor for his plans).
I see nothing to respect about his negative hate filled commercials and town hall meeting (which he sucks at). He is the one that has hurt Americans at every turn with every bill he's supported. Even the Vets have received little support but words. His rating is a D while Obama's is a B.
Too Many have served our Country honorably without help from daddy
...I hope that the kid is cut some slack here. The hypocrisy of the situation is disgusting. She shouldn't have important emails on freaking YAHOO.
I am so overwhelmed and appalled at what passes for intelligence in this country.
When Rove, Gonzales and Meyers have been systematically installing loyal Bushies into US Attorney spots for yearswhat do you expect? There's a Democratic politician sitting in a jail in Alabama guilty of nothing more than being a Dem who can relate to this hacker.
In addition to the Open Records Act, why is there such mealy mouthed double talk about her violation of the Alaska Executive ethics Act?
NBC news said "no crimes were committed". That's not how I read the report. The report says that the governor can lawfully fire anybody, BUT not if it's for personal gain.
The report says she violated an Alaska statute. I'm no lawyer, but if you or I violated a state statute, we'd be facing a judge in court.
maybe what she did is considered a civil rather than criminal violation. If that's the case, the MSM ought not present it as though she did nothing wrong.
I do not think I have ever heard of a much better place to apply a jury nullification tactic than this. How long is it going to take to get the DOJ back to being involved in justice anyway?
The so-called "hacker" did her a favor. The whole thing defused the issue of her using non-official e-mail for official business. And it gave them an excuse to delete the account.
not to private actors.
So I can illegally break into your house to steal, find a dead body, report it to police, and they can still use that evidence against you with no fourth amendment violation.
Sadly I would hope so, the person is dead. Let the evidence talk.
I've got a feeling that Palin's crimes and abuses are coming to a head and are going to bring her world crashing in around her head. She's making everybody in the State of Alaska look pretty stupid for having elected her. She is shaming the state. I don't think that they are going to put up with it for long.
This is not helping her back home. The newspapers there are raking her over the coals pretty good. Her popularity up there is plummeting fast.
Alaskans really didn't like it when McCain's crew of powerhouse Washington attorneys came swooping into their state to interfere with their governing process. They are an independent sort, and even the non-secessionists don't take kindly to outside interference.
And the politicians up there on either side of the aisle don't seem to like being lied to. I guess they haven't all gotten with the mainstream neo-Republican program yet. They seem to still have a pretty strong sense of integrity, in general. At the state level, at least.
And keep in mind she ignored a subpoena, for which she could face action when the state legislature reconvenes in January. Anywhere else, I would expect they'd avoid it, being how politicians protect their own first and foremost. But they might just be disappointed enough in the New Sarah to hold her accountable. Could be fun.
On the subject of New Sarah... anyone notice that if you listen to her speak from before she gained national attention, that she doesn't have nearly as pronounced an accent? And not nearly as many You Betchas and other folksy stuff? It's just plain weird.
What you said is very true. I'm from Alaska, although I left in '92, before Palin got into politics. The ADN has never liked her. Her "popularity" was more like a surprised blip on everyone's radar screen because she was seen as staring down and taking on the good ol' boys network. She hasn't been in office that long (!), and the current "polls" simply reflect Alaskans' seeing her high-school cronyism for what it is.
My parents, who live next-door to Wasilla, kind of hem and haw about her now, but I know that they are taken aback at McCain's high-powered DC lawyers "swooping into their state to interfere with their governing process". This is NOT playing well up there.
What I am hoping is that all Alaskans begin to get embarrassed about her, and when she comes crawling back on Nov. 5th, impeachment trials commence.
She is an embarrassment, and has brought out the basest, lowest supporters of the once-proud GOP party.
"The court claimed it was a 'loophole' in federal privacy law."
It's not a loophole. The right against unreasonable search and seizure applies to government agents. Had this guy been working with the police to try to uncover this information, it would be an illegal search and seizure. But, he is a private citizen and Palin's 4th Amendment rights were not violated. Of course this guy is rightfully subject to prosecution--if I were on his jury, however, I would acquit him.
Strange how the feds never investigated the GOP executive branch of using personal emails to hide they're continued abuse of power, braking of laws, etc... when they do it against the congress, senate and people of the USA. But hack into a GOP canidates email and wham...they're on you! Save the emails and use them and save the world!
Can we PLEASE stop saying that he "hacked" her email account? There was no actual hacking involved.
He GUESSED her friggin' password, people. A password so simple that a troll on 4Chan (which is where the "hack" first broke) was able to guess it in less than 20 tries.
get it right!
;)
Let's see how this turns out. The young man looked at Sarah's email which was wrong but not an indicable offense, while Sarah was violating the Hatch Act. Will Sarah aka Betty Boop be changed with the crime or does she get a free pass?
The hacked account is now not evidence due to being hacked. The chain of custody was distroyed by this fool and now Palin can claim that the emails there are not accurate due to this crime.
Smart move guys.
Puh-leaz.
Yahoo could pull from cache in about 2 seconds. If not the FBI or NSA could easily do so.
Should not be a problem to charge or convict/impeach (of course look at the media who thinks illegal abuse of power is a non-story...nice another big loss from the Bush years).
These emails are clearly something that would be sought in any case and discovery (or umm I don't know compliance to the law) would easily find them.
HOW ABOUT THOSE 5 MILLION WH EMAILS?
Sara Palin has proven to be one big lying ass joke. I hate to even see her and her stupid ass husband, and I make it a point to flip the switch on my TV station when she appears.
I hope that President Obama, when he takes office will pardon this young man and save his furture.
ridiculous. Someone in the media? The very MM everyone loathes? You are seriously suggesting this might be snatched by someone in media with a bleeding heart? Are there even any of those left these days?
"So why isn't Palin now facing questions about her violation of the Open Records Act? Hopefully more in the media will start asking her about this."
-- What good would that do? It's not like she'll answer it. She'll just stand there looking stupid.
What this guy did is completely wrong? Imagine is someone snooped into Obama's email looking for communications with Wright or Ayers? It's awful no matter who does it and this kid should have the book thrown at him.
I'm an Obama supporter but it should be pretty obvious that you can't defend this in any way at all. None of this can be used in court in any way and if that is still somehow legal, it shouldn't be. Otherwise, you would have people trying to hack into every politician's or personal figure's public email looking for dirt.
Get this shit off your page already and move on. You can defend the indefensible and you shouldn't. Use some common sense and don't be a fucking moron about this.
After all the Republican abuses I think the entire governmental system in DC needs to be fumigated and thoroughly reviewed for abusive practices.
The Attorney General should be the first place to start!
Demand Justice!
and possibly even a recall in her home state of alaska for these violations.
So much for our so called Justice System. David Kernell is looking at 5 years for hacking into Governor Palin's e-mails. While Scooter Libby, Rove, Ari Fleisher, Cheney, and the rest of the Bush thugs who outed Valerie Plame Wilson and undermined National Security (will they ever release the damage report?) are walking free.
Several justice systems in this country and they are not just.
Why do our leaders and courts wonder why the American public has such disrespect for this so called justice system