Comments on: UK Hacker Gary McKinnon Loses Appeal Against Extradition

By: brian

brian — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:55:02 +0000

What pisses me off more than anything else, is the little support Gary has received from CERTAIN quarters. There you have Judges, who never been near a computer in their lives, passing judgements six years after the event, that can ruin peoples lives.
If every Hacker was doing as much damage as Gary did, then Hackers should be proclaimed as ANGELS.
From Now on, run the script……….that deletes the hard drive clean(including the OS) and exit………using a $25 wireless lap top hooked on un-secure connection wherever you can find one……..and then throw the lap top away.
Revenge is sweet, and some one has to do the dirty work, or do the lecturing.

By: Navin

Navin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:15:36 +0000

Firstly Cheers :)
Secondly, i do agree with flux on the fact tht nowadays rules can be bent to prosecute anyone as per the needs…the Mc Kinnon case has been blown so much outta proportion that in order to maintain the status of the judicial system, he’ll have to go to the slammer for more than what would be expected if the case was kept intenal

By: Flux

Flux — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:28:04 +0000

Personally I think this highlights how the most recent anti-terrorism laws can be twisted to prosecute nearly any person on trial. Just because he supposedly hacked secure servers does not mean he is a terrorist. I cant really see him getting anything near 60 years though, how is that consistent with time for violent crimes? I do agree that the US want to make an example of him more then anything else so he will certainly be serving some time.

Also, I wouldn’t want to serve jail time in the US. I hear the prisons over there are meant to be quite rough! Seems unfair that a UK citizen cant serve time in the jails he paid taxes for.

By: Morgan Storey

Morgan Storey — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:07:50 +0000

@blah: I didn’t say 7 years max, I said around 7 years. I don’t think they will go for much more especially because he would be a fool to plead innocent. I think they will try and make an example of him, but at the same time try to not be overly offensive to the UK which they need to keep on side or their “war on terror” will go south more than it has.
The amount of cleanup they had to do, wouldn’t be much, you can just push out a script to uninstall the software and change the administrator username and (set a) password.
It would take me about an hour, and I think there would be smarter people that me at NASA… Then again spyware on the ISS doesn’t speak volumes for their IT literacy.

By: blah

blah — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:04:11 +0000

7 years max? where are you pulling that number from? You have consider the amount of cleanup necessary to undo the damage he did. He will likely get much more time unless he takes them up on another offer.

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:46:46 +0000

This upsets me to no end on how our government can do this. How is this classified as terrorism? This is just a harmless hack which doesn’t deserve that term. He will be made an example of that’s for sure. They should be hiring him if anything to fix our shitty security.

By: Pantagruel

Pantagruel — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:52:15 +0000

I’m afraid that the prosecution will use this scape goat to the max of their possibilities. Like d347hm4n says, this is the next best thing since they will never get their hands on a Chinese or Russian hacker.

Like Darknet mentions, his reluctance to be forthcoming will be used against him and his Asperger’s syndrome most likely explained as ‘dangerous’ compulsive behavior.

I do not condone hacking but it’s clear this particular case should be examined more closely regarding instead of turning it into a road show.

By: d347hm4n

d347hm4n — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:22:00 +0000

They will make an example of him, because they can’t make an example out of all of the Chinese and Russian hackers that penetrate their systems regularly with ease….

By: smashie

smashie — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:46:30 +0000

Given how rabid the prosecutor seemed to be, I think they are going to try for a much longer sentence. It’s a big PR deal for them now.

By: Morgan Storey

Morgan Storey — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:43:32 +0000

No the USA have already made it pretty clear he is going to serve in the USA. His maximum sentance from what I have read is 10 years per “terrorist offence”, he installed software on about 200 computers… So again we someone who did something rather minor being put away for a long time when mass-murders and rapists get less time in prison.
He has already had 4 years of basically home detention, I think that should be taken into account and he get a suspended sentance.
But a suspended sentace is wishful thinking, they will want to make an example of him, so I agree with you Darknet he will probably get 3-7.