Monday, September 22, 2008

News? What news?

UPDATED & BUMPED (1:45 p.m.): Associated Press just moved a full story:
The FBI searched the residence of the son of a Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee over the weekend looking for evidence linking the young man to the hacking of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Monday. . . .
Experts said the hacker apparently left an easy trail for investigators.
"He might as well have taken a picture of his house and uploaded it," said Ken Pfeil, an Internet security expert. "He should have just set up a big beacon that said, 'Here's my house,' or confessed. If they can't catch this guy based on all the information posted on the Web then all bets are off."
Like the man said: Heh.

UPDATE: More news from Tennessee:
Grand Jury in Chattanooga could reportedly hear testimony this week into the alleged hacking of the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. . . .
A federal grand jury is set to convene in Chattanooga on Tuesday.
(Via Michelle Malkin.)

UPDATE II: QC Examiner:
Of course, these are the same people who shriek about the government monitoring terrorists. . . .
Hacking terrorists = bad
Hacking political rivals = GOOD!
UPDATE III: Computer World:
The man who traced the IP address of the hacker who accessed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail account last week confirmed today that it belongs to an Illinois company that provides Internet service to the Knoxville, Tenn., apartment complex where the FBI served a search warrant early Sunday.
Gabriel Ramuglia, the webmaster of Ctunnel, an Athens, Ga.-based proxy service used by the hacker to mask his or her identity, acknowledged that the IP address he found in his server logs belongs to Pavlov Media, an Internet service provider based in Champaign, Ill.
According to its Web site, Pavlov Media provides Internet, television and phone services to The Commons at Knoxville, a complex that specializes in apartments for students of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
PREVIOUSLY (11:17 a.m.): Thursday, it was reported that David Kernell, the son of a Democratic state legislator in Tennessee, is at the center of an investigation into the hacking of Sarah Palin's e-mail account. Yesterday, it was reported that the FBI served a search warrant at Kernell's apartment in Knoxville.

Big news, right? So why is nobody in the major media following up? Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN -- all missing in action on this story.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney, who was able to confim that "investigatory activity took place in Knoxville over the weekend."

In keeping with policy of not commenting on active investigations, Ms. Sweeney said she "can't be more specific than that." However, she did say that the Department has had several media inquiries. "It's a pretty big news story," she said. No further official Department comment is to be expected unless and until someone is charged in the case.

UPDATE II: Linked by Instapundit. Thanks. You'd think that somebody at the Associated Press could bother to report this story, instead of leaving it to bloggers and Tennessee-based media.

UPDATE III (1:20 p.m.): Speak of the devil! Associated Press bulletin:

WASHINGTON (AP) Law enforcement officials say the FBI has searched the home of the son of a top Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee as part of its investigation into the hacking of Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account. The officials say agents searched David Kernell's Knoxville home over the weekend.

Once again, Instapundit gets results!

(Cross-posted at AmSpecBlog.)

PREVIOUSLY:

8 comments:

  1. If this guy wants mercy, he needs to cop to the crime now. If he lawyers up, and makes them do it the hard way... hey, I watch a lot of "Law and Order" reruns, and it sucks for him.

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  2. Looks like AP is finally picking up the story, albeit with an uncharacteristically cautious tone.

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  3. The Democrat/Media Complex will make damn sure this story gets squelched.

    "Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along."

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  4. "Copping" to the crime now without a lawyer is the most foolish thing he could do. A cop isn't your friend, he isn't going to help you out if you just come clean.

    Never speak to a cop about a crime without a lawyer present. That goes double if you're actually guilty of the crime.

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  5. I dunno, that AP story looks like about 1 paragraph new stuff - the rest a re-hash from last week.

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  6. This would've been a big story about a month ago. Right now for the Cons to try to score political points on this is merely grasping at straws. Dingbat son of a dem politician from Tennessee? I know your side will try their hearts out to link BO to this which is going to be a stretch. Some goofball politician's nerd son will play out like it is: some goofball politician's nerd son with nothing better to do. You've got Palin's kid out there smoking pot and her hubby-to-be coking it up...
    Meanwhile the economy is going through some truly historic turmoil and your side wants to talk about hackers and astroturfing?
    McCan't wants Andrew Cuomo as head of SEC?
    Palin goes to The Villages to rehash her convention speech, drawing thousands upon thousands of octogenarians and your side wants to whine about how they get no media coverage for their" Obama-like" crowds? People are beginning to wonder what the Palin/McCain message is....

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  7. "Dingbat", "goofball", "nerd"... ah yeah we get ya.

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  8. Well said, Young4eyes.

    But don't try to get this side into a discussion about issues. Even if you do, all you'll get is "its Bill Clinton's fault". (and that's re:, the war, economy, nukes in Korea, etc.)

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