Many more designs here.
Posted on 11/13/2008 3:23:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
Attorneys for the University of Tennessee student accused of breaking into Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's email account have filed a small forest's worth of court documents in defense of the high-profile suspect. Among them is a motion to prohibit prosecutors from referring to their client as a hacker.
The terms "hacker" and "hacking" have no basis under the statute Kernell is accused of violating, a motion filed in US District Court in Knoxville argues. It goes on to seek an order forbidding prosecutors and their witnesses from using those words when referring to the case.
"Because of the negative connotations evoked by these terms, there is a significant danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, and misleading the jury," the motion states. "Hackers are commonly portrayed as dangerous criminals who are involved in malicious conduct such as credit card fraud, stealing, intentional disruption of legitimate activities and causing economic damages."
According to accounts provided in court documents and a narrative taken from the 4chan website, Kernell accessed Palin's Yahoo email account by correctly guessing three password-reset questions using information that was readily available online.
"'Hacking,' which implies the use of sophisticated means or specialized computer skills, is not applicable to the alleged conduct," attorneys for Kernell wrote.
They aren't the first people to quibble with use of such terms in describing the acts Kernell allegedly carried out. Some seasoned security experts have also taken issue with use of the word "hack" to be synonymous with "electronic intrusion."
"It doesn't constitute what we would label as advanced hacking," Rob Graham, CEO of consultancy firm Errata Security, said of the acts alleged in the indictment. "It's something that a teen can figure out, rather than an advanced professional."
The document is one of three defense motions filed since Kernell was indicted in early October for intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. The barrage suggests attorneys for Kernell, the son of a a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker, intend to mount a defense that is considerably more vigorous than many in computer crime cases.
One motion argues that prosecutors improperly charged Kernell with a felony instead of a misdemeanor, as the statute in the case calls for. Under the law, the unauthorized access of a protected computer should be classified as a misdemeanor except when it is used to further a separate crime. In Kernell's indictment, that other crime is the unauthorized access of Palin's email account.
The indictment "is very strangely pled and circular," said Jennifer Granick, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's not surprising given the nature of the charges and given the quality of the indictment that the defendant would see a real opportunity here to make some points in favor of the defendant."
A separate motion jointly filed by the prosecution and defense seeks to delay the trial date, which is currently set for December 16. The judge in the case has yet to rule on any of the motions. Don't expect this case to be settled anytime soon.
A Hacker is a hacker is a hacker . . .
Bingo. He used the password recovery feature of a free email service.
No 2600 t-shirt for him.
What name does he prefer—”d*****bag”?
Hacker! Hacker! Hacker! Hacker! Hacker! Hacker! Hacker!
Why is Kernell still referred to as a student at the University of Tennessee? Hasn’t he been expelled?
cretin fits.
OK they can just call him Stalker.
David Kernell is a Slacker Hacker. You know, the kind of hacker that doesn’t write a line of code to get what he wants.
Just because he didn’t employ particularly sophisticated techniques, he did maliciously hack into someones account, and bragged about it. He employed identity masking techniques to cover his tracks. He deserves to have the book thrown at him to wipe the punk smile off his mug. And his daddy too.
“Attorneys for Palin email hacker: ‘Don’t call him hacker’”
Call him what they will call him in jail; MARY.
OK we’ll just call him the son of an ass. How’s that?
I’m sure they dont want a felony charge for kernal. He is probably on obama’s short list for chief technology officer.
He’s not a hacker. It’s an insult to hackers to call what this punk did hacking. They are jerks and slime, but at least what they do takes some knowledge. What he did takes none.
Okay, just call him a criminal....after all, it was criminal activity.
Is it possible he’s actually claiming to have used the password recovery feature to cover up a more sophisticated method?
“Negative connotations”?
It was a pretty negative act. There was no good-will at all in its execution.
In a murder trial, is the term “murder” no longer permitted to be spoken? How does the prosecuter describe the crime with which the perpetrator is charged?
I agree … don’t call him a hacker. A real hacker would not have been caught. ;-)
Ok, so if he whacked, what would he be called?
Possible, but unlikely.
I'm sure Yahoo! logged the action. The government can get the logs, if they need to.
How about...
INMATE
16842895314
If it hacks like a duck, it’s a duck
From The New Hacker’s Dictionary
hacker n.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker’. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker’, `network hacker’. The correct term for this sense is cracker
Hey, ambulance chasers - I’m calling him a ‘Hussein Hacker’.
Being he’s from Tennessee, does that make him ‘Hussein’s Cracker Hacker’?
That's why I amde that sticker and have already mailed out quite a few of them.
Oh thanks.. I needed that laugh.
He did it to make his dad proud of him.
You’re right, he isn’t a hacker. He actually called up Yahoo fraudulently and had them reset the password. He’s actually a fraudulent con-man.
How calling him Mr. Stew Pid?
Works for me.
How about perp?
I don’t care whether they call him a hacker, as long as they call him guilty.
He fits them all except "hacker." So call him a "fraud," "thief" and "criminal disruptor of legitimate activities and causer of economic damage."
Or "perp" for short.
I have some suggestions:
Disgusting identity thief.
Unprincipled piece of crap.
Rotten jerk.
Pick one. Hacker almost sounds too benign for a loser like you.
Can we call him a Turd Burgler? How about Ass Clown? Butt Munch?
Hell, we’ll probably end up on the bidness end of a DOS attack from this puke!!
How about one of these? Progressive, socialist, POS, or just democrat. Hacker doesn’t fill the bill like these do.
Let’s call him “Party Girl for Cell Block C.”
A subtle distinction I wouldn't bother to make on something this unimportant.
Your option. Help yourself.
Call him whatever you want, but he still deserves jail time for invasion of privacy. Would be no different than if he got into her post office mailbox, opened her mail, then put copies on the internet.
No, no, no, no, no! I didn’t *murder* that guy. I merely inhibited his life functions.
You racist.
Undocumented Data Access Person?
UDAP for short...:^)
I think they would prefer the term “script kiddie”.
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