Bristol Palin took the stand in a Knoxville courthouse yesterday, as the daughter of Sarah Palin fielded questions about an email hacking episode during the 2008 presidential campaign in which her mother had her Yahoo! email account compromised. David Kernell, 22, a former University of Tennessee student, has been indicted for identity theft, wire fraud, unauthorized access to an email account, and obstruction of justice in relation to the incident, four felony charges that could land him up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Kernell, whose father has been a Democratic member of the state's general assembly since 1974, allegedly hacked into then-governor Palin’s private Yahoo! email account and reset her password by answering a series of security questions. A photo of Bristol Palin’s younger brother, Trigg, which included her personal cell phone number, subsequently found its way onto the internet after she emailed the image her mother’s account during the 2008 campaign.
According to AP reports, Bristol Palin conveyed the story of a worried, pregnant, 17-year-old girl living “in the middle of nowhere in Alaska” who became subjected to harassing phone calls and text messages after seeing the photo on television. Although, as Infosecurity notes, Kernell has not been charged with harassment resulting from the incident.
After re-setting the email account password, Kernell allegedly posted screen shots of the account contents on the internet, which then led to the unsolicited attention that Bristol received in its wake. She would then go on to testify that her private cell number was not public at the time, and “wouldn’t have been posted if it hadn’t been hacked into”.
A TV journalist from WMC-TV in Memphis caught up with Kernell as he exited the courthouse yesterday and asked the accused hacker about his thoughts on Bristol Palin, with the young man replying simply, “She’s not my type”.