UK hacker Gary McKinnon loses extradition fight

Oracle

UK hacker Gary McKinnon loses extradition fight: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6521255.stm

Static M.e.

Gary McKinnon is not the smartest, Im not surprised he or his lawyers lost the case. If you ever look at any interviews or read his statements on what transpired he really comes across quite simple. Perhaps he is technically brillant but I don't think so.

I do feel sorry for him though he is going to be made an example of. If he gets processed as a cyber terrorist he will go away for a very long time.

NutJob

Static M.e. wrote:

Gary McKinnon is not the smartest, Im not surprised he or his lawyers lost the case. If you ever look at any interviews or read his statements on what transpired he really comes across quite simple. Perhaps he is technically brillant but I don't think so.

I do feel sorry for him though he is going to be made an example of. If he gets processed as a cyber terrorist he will go away for a very long time.

He's not technically brilliant either. SEE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4977134.stm

If i was him i would have headed for a nice warm country with no extradition and disappear. He's in big big trouble now and the only hope is they think he's a complete crackpot.

ethernet

I saw him in an interview on "Click". He was on dialup at the time. As he said himself, he couldn't really make much out of what he was seeing waiting so long for it to download.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

The poor guy, he should have been more careful, but the yanks only have to scream "terrorist" and the UK falls into line. Shocking really.

BrokenArrows

all very convenient, 56k dialup, low res image, java application that does not allow save.....

ie he is full of crap and just got lucky with his hack.

H3LLg0d

Sooooooo So so overated:rolleyes:

What a complete idiot first using his real email address to dowload a file to:rolleyes:

But it's a shame he's gona be made an example by the U.S

Martyr

imo, his biggest mistake was publicly admitting guilt in newspapers and on tv..boasting of his exploits has irritated alot of people.

No wonder there is talk about sentencing Gary to 70 years imprisonment.
its really insane and inconsistent with the actions.

there is less sympathy for him because he portrays himself as some elite hacker seeking answers, like mulder from the x-files "the truth is out there, scully"

i've lost count of the times i've read/heard of a rapist or child molester being given suspended sentences for horrific crimes(right enough, thats irish law). something like gary mckinnons sentence of 70 years in jail seems unlikely.

more like 3-5 years.(of course i haven't a clue)

going by 'ill-will' who got 2 years for selling source code from microsoft (containing solataire and notepad) http://freeillwill.com/

william 'ill-will' genovese has a big mouth too, he craved attention and thats why he got 2 years, selling code worth virtually nothing.

Oracle

I don't believe that McKinnon was looking around for advanced alien technology hidden by the military. I think it's a cover story that suits the government conspiracy, alien cover-up theories around right now. It also fits McKinnon's own nerdy, "brilliant but crazy", computer hacker persona.

His motivation may have been bravado, being one of the few to brake in, thereby making a name for himself; and/or money, finding confidential documents, and information that he would then attempt to sell to foreign governments, commercial organisations or journalists. He might even have been able to sell the information back to the US government itself, under a non-disclosure agreement, or he may have been able to profit from the information another way by writing a book or publishing the details on line.

Either way, despite what I believe to be his real motivation, I don't think McKinnon should be jailed or even fined. If he was able to enter US government networks using his home computer, off the shelf software, and blank passwords, in my opinion he has not committed any crime. Putting Windows computers on networks accessible to the internet with blank passwords is like leaving your house front (and back) doors permanently open; eventually someone's going to come in.

There's lessons here for both McKinnon and the US government. The lesson for McKinnon is that hacking is a serious and potentially criminal activity that can lead to a long jail term and the US government needs to learn the importance of network security.

Oracle

McKinnon has lost his extradition appeal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7585861.stm