Blogosphere lynches 'Palin hacker,' minus evidence

A fact-light report from WREG-TV in Memphis. (Image via YouTube.com)

Can someone please arrest the blogosphere and put them all away? Don't worry about gathering evidence or building a case, just lock them up and throw away the key — they'd do the same to you.

Drunk on the prospect that the 20-year-old son of a Democratic legislator in Tennessee was behind Wednesday's Palin e-mail hack, many blogs, political and otherwise, have summarily convicted the young man based on an impressive array of rumors, recycled nonfacts, misinterpretations and outright negligence. Then some TV stations and newspapers picked up the canard, running stories whose factual underpinning was that the hacking accusation was "the topic of heated discussions by bloggers all day." 

The whole circus started with the resemblance between a pseudonym of someone who claimed to be the hacker, and the supposed e-mail address of the politician's son. Both contained the word "rubico."  For many reporters, that might prompt a few phone calls. For bloggers, it was enough to light the torches.

Leading the misinfo-pack is conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, who began a post on the subject by quoting Nashville's Tennessean newspaper's report that, among other things, that "the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell has been contacted by authorities in connection with a probe into the hacking." 

But — and this bears strenuous emphasis — the Tennessean has completely changed its tune. Without a note or correction, it soon replaced the version that Malkin quotes with one in which Rep. Kernell merely acknowledges that his son "is at the center of heated Internet discussion into the hacking." 

Malkin doesn't mention the change, and the original, incorrect version has been cited more widely than the less exciting up-to-date version.

Malkin does, however, link to Gateway Pundit, a blog whose modus operandus is apparently to trumpet falsehoods with multiple exclamation points so other blogs can at least have a source when they want to spread rumors. Here's the headline of the Gateway post Malkin links to (the ellipses are part of the headline): "FATHER OF HACKER Is Tennessee Dem State Rep!!!!! ...Update: Name- [first name deleted by Web Scout] Kernell ...Update: He's Been Contacted by Feds!" Then later: "Kernell Confesses?"

What? Every one of these statements is dead wrong. There's been no admission of guilt nor official  suspect named by any agency.  No one, not even the Tennessean, has stood by reporting that the younger Kernell was contacted by the authorities. (Rep. Kernell has said explicitly, including in the WREG-TV video that Gateway itself posted, that neither he nor his son has been contacted at all.) So seriously...huh?   

But here's where the snake really begins to eat its tail. To back up its suggestion that Kernell confessed, Gateway links to an article on a British tech site called PC Pro, which claimed that "a message was posted by Kernell on the 4chan forum claiming that he was behind the attack."

But the message that PC Pro was referring to, widely disseminated by Malkin, apparently came from the image board 4chan.org. I say apparently because 4chan's posts are not archived, and often disappear without a trace in a matter of minutes, making it difficult to prove anything originated there. Moreover, the confession that Malkin posted carried only the ID "rubico" — it did not contain the younger Kernell's name anywhere — and was itself sent to Malkin by an unnamed source. 

So, to recap:  A pseudonymous message on a nonarchived discussion board famous for mischief and anonymity was rescued by another anonymous user (Malkin's), and Malkin unquestioningly posted it on her blog.  From there, the account was passed around until it was picked up by a British computing site that mistakenly attached Kernell's name to it — based on an e-mail address someone found by Googling the pseudonymous rubico.

Then, with the fiction gaining steam (but no fact), Gateway Pundit and others were free to run with it until — surprise! — their posts were linked by Malkin, who helped create the story in the first place. Ain't it pretty?

The blogoshere has assembled numerous details and speculation about what's going on, but it's my contention that there's not one verifiable truth in this story. The clue that started it all — the tale of two rubicos — is certainly worth a raised eyebrow, but it's a far cry from enough evidence to conduct a virtual lynching.

Comments

[tyler kent]

Hey, where were you when the blogosphere as well as the mainstream corporate media, including Time, AP, UPI, ABC, etc., was lit up like a bonfire over Gov. Sarah Palin's alleged remark that the war in Iraq was "a task from God"? In fact, she had asked her church to pray for guidance that America's leaders and U.S. troops were doing the right thing in Iraq. But the LA Times was AWOL.

[Neech]

Oh now this is rich. A left wing blogger feigning faux outrage that the main stream media would take a bloggers word and run with it. hahaha

Can you say Palin Smear Campaign compliments of the left wing bloggers and picked up by every left wing media outlet without an OUNC of proof? Get a life and suck it up. If you dish it out, expect to take a little you hypocrites.

[Manuel]

The blogosphere tends to report coincidence and rumor and lacks the proof standards of a court of law. WebScout, when did you stumble onto this remarkable observation? You may be the first. (Of course, these standards of proof didn't seem to trouble the L.A. Times when it reported on Schwarzenegger's groping "incidents" just days before a major election.)

Three days since your post, and the WBIR story substantiates all of that unfounded rumor. Where's your follow-up? If you truly want to compete with the blogosphere, you've got to act with similar speed. Maybe you should change your name from WebScout to WebCoveredWagon. Because you certainly aren't out in front of anybody else.

A few questions:

Has the story of the hacking of Palin's email ever made it onto the front page of the L.A. Times?

Is there any doubt that if the email account belonged to Biden or Obama that it would be front-page news?

And if the hack was traced to the son of a Republican politician, that would also be on every paper's front page?

Is there any doubt anymore that newspapers like the L.A. Times are hopelessly in the tank for Obama/Biden?

(Answer key: No, no, no and no. If you answered all four correct, then you are a discerning, critical reader. If you got all four wrong, then the L.A. Times has a position for you.)

[Gary]

By Kelly ... "THe LA Times will be eating its words when this kid is convicted, there is more proof then what the LA Times is telling you."

No, they will just forget they were completely wrong. They won't correct the story. They will just ignore it and pretend like it never happened, like they always do. It doesn't faze them at all, they will just go on and write more lies and pretend they are facts.

[Disco Trellis]

When Kernell was 15 he said he was institutionalized several times. I wonder if his father is messed-up too...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
http://apocalypticvisions.blogspot.com/

[Will Collier]

So, David. Retract much? 'Cause it's past time for you to do so, and admit that those eeeevil conservative bloggers were right, and you were wrong.

Again.

[Erika]

Was there ever any evidence found? Because the latest I read is that he hasn't admitted to anything and he wasn't even indicted.So if there wasn't any evidence then what is the FBI doing searching his home???

[Well Well]

Well, rubico turned himself in. The LA Times tried to run interference for the LAW BREAKING son of a DEMOCRAT lawmaker but alas, it turns out Davie will be doing some jail time anyway. To hell with all you socialists.