Lawmaker’s Son Charged For Hacking Palin’s E-mail

The son of a Democrat Tennessee legislator involved in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has been indicted for hacking Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s personal electronic mail and posting the private information on a public web site.

The 20-year-old college student, son of Memphis state Representative Mike Kernell, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville for intentionally accessing without authorization the Alaska governor’s private e-mails. Not surprisingly, Papa Kernell, the chairman of Tennessee’s House Government Operation Committee, says he had absolutely nothing to do with the crime.

It turns out that the younger computer hack master Kernell, David, may also have connections to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, a top Democratic strategist who incidentally accused the Clinton’s of widespread dirty politics during the primaries.

According to the indictment, David Kernell accessed Governor Palin’s account after answering a series of security questions that allowed him to reset the password. Then he made screenshots of Palin’s mail directory, mail content and other personal information. David Kernell then posted the information on a public web site.
The University of Tennessee economics major faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.