More Charges In Palin e-mail Hacking

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Three more federal charges have been filed against a University of Tennessee student charged with hacking into the personal e-mail account of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential nominee.

David Kernell, the son of a Democratic Tennessee legislator, pleaded not guilty to all charges Monday, and a magistrate agreed to push back his trial from May to October.

Kernell allegedly gained access to Palin's account in September by correctly answering a series of personal security questions.

The new counts are fraud, unlawful electronic transmission of material outside Tennessee and attempts to conceal records to impede an FBI investigation.

An earlier indictment against Kernell was unsealed in October. He pleaded not guilty and was released on several conditions, including staying away from his computer except for school work.

The October indictment said Kernell tapped into the Alaska governor's widely publicized Yahoo! e-mail account, reset the password and was able to read the contents, make screenshots and post his exploits on the Web using the nickname "rubico." The indictment said at least one other person followed a similar path into Palin's account.

Kernell is the son of longtime state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee.

Cincy Fan 44 wrote:Gee, looks to me like he too could be a cabinet nominee in a few years!

Jugomugo wrote:I'm going to guess he gets off easy. It wasn't even really a "hack". Anyone could have done it because Palin was a moron.