Security Bullet In
Communiques from the security front, sir
Friday 24 July 2009, 3:17 PM
Nasa hacker judgement day set
The date was revealed in a press statement on Friday by Karen Todner, McKinnon's solicitor.
McKinnon stands accused by US prosecutors of "the biggest military hack of all time". The self-confessed hacker, who claims he accessed the US systems to search for evidence of UFOs, denies accusations of damage. McKinnon was diagnosed with having Asperger's Syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum, last August.
One of the judicial reviews is to decide whether former home secretary Jacqui Smith was right in law to turn down McKinnon's second appeal for clemency. Smith was aware at the time of McKinnon's Asperger's diagnosis.
The second review is to decide whether the Crown Prosecution Service was right to decline to prosecute McKinnon in the UK. Had the CPS prosecuted McKinnon here, he would have avoided extradition.
The current US/UK extradition treaty was rushed through parliament in haste in the wake of 9/11. The treaty was pushed through by then-home secretary David Blunkett (the man who also brought us ID cards).
The treaty was supposed to be an anti-terrorist measure, and lowered the burden of proof that US prosecutors had to show to extradite UK citizens. No terrorist suspects have yet been extradited. Instead, the law has been used by the US to extradite those accused of other crimes, such as the Natwest 3.
PreviousComments on this post
I think he should be sent to the US
To face his accusers, this is not about US vs UK, its about right and wrong. He knew what he was doing, he hacked into military and NASA computers looking for something. He had full knowlegde of what he was doing and HE chose to do it. Do I feel bad about what this has done to his family, yes, do I feel bad he has a medical condition, yes, do I feel bad that if he goes to jail he will be very far from his family, yes. He should of thought about all of this before he commited the crime. He did this to himself and his family, not the US.
The US is not going after him to be mean it is seeking justice. In the beginning the US showed him mercy by the plea deal it gave, by turning it down and fighting extradition he gave the US prosecutors no choice but to go after him at full speed.
I am sure many UK citizens will disagree with me and thats fine, but I can say with a 100% certainty that if a US citizen hacked the UK's military network, and the UK showed a little bit credible proof the US would hand him over to the UK. He isnt denying it, he has admitted to it.
He is trying to get off on a technicality. He knows in America what he did is a felony, compared to the UK's Misdemeanor charge. Of course he wants to be tried in the UK, who wouldn't.
This comment has been deleted at the users request
Lets face it, they are planning to use him as a scape goat there's no two ways about it.
Just to summarize he logged into supposedly secure systems that failed to have any passwords defined on them, he was on a dial up connection that was no more than 56k, and probably out of sheer disbelief he decided traverse a little deeper just see if it was all real.
They was also other unauthorised people in the same systems which was probably an ongoing event around the clock, not surprising given the fact that US personal where either to lazy or to thick to secure the systems properly.
On top of this we have had past & present politicians who have being passing ruling's and various laws that are unfit for purpose, as was there base decision's to take our nations into a war that was not needed other than to line pockets, subsequently these very same politicians have since being found to be nothing more than common thief's, of which the UK CPS have conveniently failed to prosecute any one of them.
Am I now honestly expected to believe that these very same politicians have any competence in there ruling's against this man, who certain US agency's/politicians want to jail for 60+ years?! because of there own incompetence.
I think not sir! our law lords need to bring some common sense back into this realm so that this man receives a fair transparent ruling, and if a sentence is to be passed then it should be served here in the UK and not in Disney land.
CA
Interesting points, "Just to summarize he logged into supposedly secure systems that failed to have any passwords defined on them," Not exactly, he used a perl script to find computers that were unprotected, you could say its the same thing as going down a block of houses and trying to turn the door handle on all of them to find one that is unlocked.
"he was on a dial up connection that was no more than 56k, and probably out of sheer disbelief he decided traverse a little deeper just see if it was all real." No he was looking for classified military data about UFO's and free energy.
"They was also other unauthorised people in the same systems which was probably an ongoing event around the clock, not surprising given the fact that US personal where either to lazy or to thick to secure the systems properly." according to him their were others yes but did any of the others say that they were in favor of 9/11 and that they would continue to disrupt the US networks at the highest level?
I cant speak about your politicians other then to say that politicians seem to be the same everywhere.
"who certain US agency's/politicians want to jail for 60+ years?! because of there own incompetence." Not really, they want him in jail because he commited a crime against the US military and Government.
"I think not sir! our law lords need to bring some common sense back into this realm so that this man receives a fair transparent ruling, and if a sentence is to be passed then it should be served here in the UK and not in Disney land." He would get a fair ruling in the US, he should serve his sentence in the UK, American jails are far from disney land.
Point One
The doors where not even closed irregardless of him using 3rd party program or he's own to automate the search.
Point Two
yup he was there looking.
Point Three a
Where as I have already asked on another thread in he's statement does he say or condone murder?
Point Three b
According to the US all there allegations are true, even though such a conversation took place without Gary having any independent representative there with him at that time.
Point Three c
As far as the others are concerned just maybe there keeping there heads down because there the ones who actually caused some form of damage to the systems.
If anything the message Garry left just really shows why he was there in the first place and that was to find something out about the 9/11 incident, as for the disrupting comment thats the type baiting hackers do.
Point Four
Agreed politicians suck ass.
Point five
Completely circumstantial, as said before maybe he hit the nail on the head with regards to searching for the 9/11 incident material.
Point Six
How can he receive a fair hearing in the US if they don't even haft to provide any evidence to extradite him, and lets not forget when he talked to them without any representative present in duress circumstances.
This alone should be enough to stop this case;
"The current US/UK extradition treaty was rushed through parliament in haste in the wake of 9/11. The treaty was pushed through by then-home secretary David Blunkett"
Lastly yes he should receive some form of punishment for what he did and at best that looks like nothing more than breaking into Uhm' secure systems, and antagonizing lazy system admins, and don't sit there and say 60 years.
