Posted on 05/27/2010 9:00:19 AM PDT by ScaniaBoy
It was just after midnight on September 16 2008. Somewhere in the heart of the United States, a web surfer known only by the nickname ‘Rubico’ flipped open his laptop and stared intently at the screen.
It was the height of the US presidential election campaign and the television was filled with images of Sarah Palin, who had been confirmed as John McCain’s running mate.
Earlier, Rubico had wondered whether a hunch he’d had about an email security flaw meant it would be possible to access her private messages. It was time to find out.
The first piece of the puzzle – knowing which account belonged to Palin – was already in place.
The governor’s personal email address had become public knowledge following a controversy that revealed she had been sending messages about official Alaska state business using a private account (gov.palin@yahoo.com), not illegal but seriously frowned upon.
Rubico knew that the security procedures on Yahoo! email accounts were incredibly flimsy.
Once he knew Palin’s address, all he had to do was guess the answers to a handful of ‘secret’ security questions about her – all of which, if she had answered them truthfully, could be easily deduced.
So, he logged on, told Yahoo! that he had forgotten the password to Palin’s account and started trying to gain access. It could hardly have been easier.
............
As Kernell’s friend Brett Ballinger - sitting in the quad of the university - asked: ‘What are they trying to push on him? Did any of them ever sit down and ask, “How did he really hurt these people and is it worth us going and destroying his life?’”
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Just watch. He’ll get off with a couple hundred hours of “community service”.
Are you serious? OK, what he did was illegal and he ought to be punished for it in an appropriate manner, but to want to have his life completely ruined and getting raped repeatedly in prison? That is seriously effed up. Only the vilest rapists and murderers deserve to have that happen to them.
Fortunately, I doubt it will come to that....
I guess you consider what he did to be trivially illegal then while I consider it an act of political sabotage in the most important part of the greatness of this country - the political process of selecting candidates for President and Vice President. Yes, I believe what he did was vile; he attempted to abet the subversion of the free elections process. If I were a criminal defense attorney, I’d consider you a sympathetic juror choice.
Based on the evidence, I’d vote to convict. But If I knew he was going to get 20 years, I might seriously consider not doing it. Of course, that is the problem you face with justice if the punishment is out of proportion with the crime. A lot of rapists and even some murderers get less than 20 years...
Based on the fact that he was clearly a political operative committing a crime in an attempt to influence an election, hard time in a medium security federal penitentiary is a fair sentence. Twenty years may be a little long, but fifteen would be about right, especially since he will be out on parole in five to seven years if he stays out of trouble while inside.
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