NASA hacker loses latest extradition fight

(Credit: ZDNet UK)

On Wednesday, a 42-year-old UFO enthusiast lost his bid in a British court to fight extradition to the U.S. on charges he hacked into several U.S. military bases and even NASA.

Gary McKinnon has been fighting extradition for nearly six years, and his latest setback occurred in the British House of Lords. McKinnon admits breaking into U.S. databases in order to uncover evidence of secret UFO documents. His supporters contend that if deported to the U.S. for trial, McKinnon could be portrayed as a terrorist, seeking military secrets in general.

At the heart of Wednesday's hearing was McKinnon's claim that there was a wide disparity between what the U.S. offered if he voluntarily turned himself over and admitted guilt (three to four years of prison at the maximum) and if he were extradited and stood trial (anything up to life imprisonment).

The magistrate in the House of Lords dismissed the claim, saying that such plea bargaining is common in the U.S.

Between 2001 and 2002, McKinnon is alleged to have hacked his way into computers managed by the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense, and NASA. He did so from a tiny bedroom in his girlfriend's aunt's house. McKinnon maintains that he was motivated by his interests in UFOs, and that the military computers had lax security.

In 2006, the British Home Secretary ruled McKinnon should be extradited to the United States, and the U.K. Court of Appeal also made a subsequent ruling in favor of extradition.

Mark Summers, an official representing U.S. interests in the proceedings against McKinnon, said in British court that McKinnon's actions were "intentional and calculated to influence and affect the U.S. government by intimidation and coercion."

In a statement, McKinnon's lawyers responded in a statement that he is "neither a terrorist nor a terrorist sympathizer." They argue that "his case could have been properly dealt with by our own prosecuting authorities."

Watch this ZDNet UK video interview with McKinnon.

McKinnon's attorneys said he will appeal to European Court of Human Rights, in France. It is the last appeal he can file.

[discern]

Looses? Are you for real?

[ulysses_98]

"...he was motivated by his interests in UFOs"...based on his picture, I'm thinking he was trying to find a way home.

[maestro8k8]

This article is so bad, Mr. Vamosi's English teacher just committed suicide.

Literacy. It's not for everyone.

[MadcapMagician]

OK, here it is .. homeboy here says it was ok to hack these systems because thier security was lax... NO EXCUSE =/ .. also how the hell would this moron know what the hell he was looking at anyway if he found documents... he could very well look at documents that had nothing to do with ufo's and everything to do with national security secrets... so what was he planning to do? download these so called "ufo" documents and publish them? well the same could be said for national security documents... or he could sell them, we dont know what he would have done with them..or who would have seen any documents... all we have is his word... and besides any competent hacker would known YOU DONT RUN A SERIOUS HACK FROMYOUR BEDROOM!!!... this guy gets what he deserves for being a moron.

[maestro8k8]

Hey! Bob fixed the headline!

Now... how long until he fixes the other errors in the document.

Remember, Robert, a spell checker is not a grammar checker.

[kleemola]

Yeah, as if they'd have all the alien secrets on internet-facing machines too. Does he know they are allowed to shoot you if you go near area 51 where the aliens are supposedly kept?

[The_Decider]

Did you know it is possible to hack machine that aren't directly connected to the internet through machines that are?

[73tbrad]

So long as there are secrets, there will be those who try to bring them to light.

[brickman5721]

It should be interesting when he finally reaches the US for TRAIL.

[Michichael]

Yup. Those U.S. trails are brutal. Gotta bring plenty of water and granola.

[Fylebot]

This man was curious about what was going on and how things work. He took steps to learn about the way things really are despite the threat of institutional, governmental and prosecutorial nonsense. McKinnon did well. McKinnon is a curious person who also happens to have the ability to learn about what he's interested in, as well as the bravery to pursue knowledge and truth, despite great personal risk. McKinnon should be left to learn more, as long as his moral and social responsibilities are made clear to him.

This man does not belong in prison, he belongs in a university, and he deserves respect, just like everyone else.

- Fyle

[DigitalFrog]

Curiosity killed the cat. I'm curious about your bank statement, does that mean I should hack your bank? He knew he was committing an illegal act and has admitted it.

[The_Decider]

The fact that the US is threatening to treat him like a terrorist will probably be the reason the EU courts send the US packing. What would be interesting is what would happen if our wayward government did treat him like a terrorist(funny how many of those "terrorists" we innocent), kidnap him, torture him, hold him for years without trial or charges.

If Bush wants to cap his complete failure of a presidency "properly", this would do it.

[luc1ph3r]

Curiosity as a defense? How again does that allow a individual to break written laws? If he was so curious why didn't he pursue his passion legally? This is the information age after all. I don't agree with the terrorist angle but the felonies are viable and he admitted to them. He should just plea bargain and quit wasting time. People shouldn't waste sympathy on a common criminal (1 pennyx2)

[DavidLisney]

This is a scandal, my firewall blocked an incoming attempt on it's mail server from Department of Defence Intelligence (an interesting contradiction in terms). I duly emailed them a firewall log and also explained that I was in the UK so the datestamps would make more sense... I suggested (probably generously) that they may have a compromised machine on their network. Needless to say I heard absolutely nothing back, not even a computer generated acknowledgement. It seems it is ok for machines on their shabby network to attack my superior and more secure home network but invasion into their shabby and mismanaged network is considered really serious. Gary I gather has so far co-operated and explained to them how their network security was set up badly and how machines existed with no administrator passwords. I feel he has probably suffered for long enough with this hanging over his head for 6 years. I feel that staff maintaining the network may have lacked training, and that IT malpractices were fairly rife.
I may be wrong of course, worringly Gary has previously claimed a lot of other hackers were wandering around the same network.
I suspect it is very difficult to keep people out of any internet facing network, it does beg the question that if the security is that critical that physical isolation may be the way.
I am a radio engineer by trade, not an IT man, however some of the modern radio schemes inevitably use VOIP distribution over land lines... we have to be very careful not to have anything accessible by Joe Public...ANY possible leakage to the public network has to be very carefully screwed down (not by me).

[DavidLisney]

I am not condoning his actions, nor encouraging any other individuals to do similar, inevitably his intrusions into the network have cost the American public money, however it seems as though some heads should roll in the department responsible for allowing these intrusions. Uncontrolled access into these networks can clearly be extremely dangerous, from a national security point of view and financially. I don't know if there is any suggestion that he had malicious intentions, however you can be sure that some of the other intruders did. Perhaps they covered their tracks better?

[NoVista]

Funny how some people are up in arms about one amateur, when the real travesty is the misfeasance and malfeasance of U.S. government.

Really, you should be screaming about the Department of Homeland (In)Security, whose systems began with an F rating and improved to a D, last time I looked. Then there's the traffic in black market nuclear proliferation, with alleged bribery and corruption of some congresspersons, a possible link from some intelligence operatives right back to the AQ Khan distribution ring.

As for one million names on the 'terrorist watch list', get real.