Protesters decry NASA hacker's extradition

Protests chant outside Britain's Home Office in support of Gary McKinnon.

(Credit: Tom Espiner/ZDNet UK)

A peaceful protest supporting self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon took place this week in London.

About 35 backers showed up Tuesday in front of the Home Office to protest the extradition of McKinnon to the United States. They said he should instead be put on trial in the United Kingdom, where he lives.

McKinnon is accused of one of the biggest military hacks ever, slipping into computer systems belonging to the U.S. Army, Air Force, Department of Defense, and NASA. The U.S. government alleges that McKinnon's hacking activities caused $700,000 worth of damage. McKinnon has always maintained that his activities were harmless and that he was merely looking for evidence of UFOs.

European Court of Human Rights turned down his extradition appeal last week. If found guilty of the hacking charges in a U.S. court, McKinnon could face up to 70 years in prison under anti-terrorism laws.

Karen Todner

(Credit: Tom Espiner/ZDNet UK)

Karen Todner, McKinnon's solicitor and a protester, said that he should at least be allowed to serve his sentence in the U.K. because of his recent diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. Todner is preparing further appeals to the extradition.

Lucy Clarke, McKinnon's girlfriend and a protester, said he has become withdrawn following the loss of his appeal. "He's shut down," Clarke told ZDNet UK. "Gary's been living with this for six years. I'm surprised he hasn't had some kind of breakdown before now...We are very concerned about his health."

Clarke added that she hoped the U.S. would be "realistic" in sentencing McKinnon. "I want the Americans to be realistic here, a bit bloody realistic" Clarke said. "Seventy years is a joke. At the end of the day, this was a bloke on a computer. If you haven't got passwords, you're lucky that Gary wasn't a terrorist. He's always said he was wrong, but they should have had the security set up. He hasn't murdered anybody."

Lucy Clarke (left) and Janice McKinnon,
Gary McKinnon's mother

(Credit: Tom Espiner/ZDNet UK)

The Home Office gave an official statement to ZDNet UK about the Extradition Act 2003 and the 2003 extradition treaty between the two countries.

"These arrangements are fairly balanced, despite differences in terminology and procedures," stated a Home Office representative. "There are strong safeguards in place in the Extradition Act 2003 which ensure that the courts and the home secretary consider a number of issues, such as human rights and double jeopardy before anyone is extradited from the U.K. to the U.S."

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[shouldhaveknowbetter]

******* should have known better, he knew what he was doing. in life you make desicions but well he made a bad one. its like saying. "hey im going into the bank and walk into the safety deposit box area and check it out" what do you think is going to happen. again *******.

[The_Decider]

The possible sentence is insanity. Rapists and murderers get far less.

The idiots in charge of the governments networks should be facing 70 years for gross incompetence.

[rdupuy11]

Yes, there sure as heck zero chance they are going to be realistic.

They are going to be cruel, inhumane, and moralize the entire time.

The people who become prosecutors don't care about human life, only rules, and if the rule says 70 years to life for chewing gum, thats whats going to happen.

It's really a shame, and the dum@#$# who post in support of this insanity, should be shot.

[ducttape36]

... i dont think rapists and murders do... either way, just because the government security sucks doesnt make it any less of a crime. the guy costs us almost a million in damages. those are our taxes. yes we should have better security, but thats not an excuse to let the guy off.

[mutesiren]

you're insanely stupid.. the guy didn't cause us to lose any money at all.. the government just needs to blame and punish someone as an example because they were too incompetent and they know it.. think before you talk idiot..

[jc364]

If he's smart enough to hack into government data, then he's smart enough to figure out the consequences of his actions. A person has to be completely ignorant to say that "a bloke on a computer" cannot cause serious damage, especially in this day in age. How does anyone know his true intentions? Is the government, which protects the lives of millions, just supposed to take him at his word that he wasn't doing anything bad while searching through secret government documents? I agree that 70 years is a bit steep, but people need to realize that this is a serious crime and not just a bored guy sitting at home with a computer and an internet connection.

[VivirEnFuego]

While I'm not sure as to the seventy year sentance, it was fairly stupid for the guy to think he could hack into the United State's defense network and nothing would happen.

[n3td3v]

The U.S military should take the full wrap for this, not some lamer guessing default passwords. If the systems hadn't still had their default passwords in place then he wouldn't have gotten in. Anyone can guess the default password, they are on the instruction manual for the product. Let's charge the U.S military for gross incompetence if national security was at risk after 9/11 and the default passwords hadn't been changed.

[ferretboy88]

So its ok to go into someones home and look around? I'm going to go over to your house with the door unlocked and steal things. Its your fault for having the doors unlocked. I guess a women who wears a mini skirt deserved to get raped. Silly.

[The_Decider]

ferrett,

where did anyone say this guy didn't break a law? Learn to read.

[mpitogo]

The internet is a connected network of computers and we have to protect ourselves. The guys running government systems should know better especially if they are exposing the system to internet traffic.

[quash_bug]

70 years!!! are these people out of their minds!!
the guy said he was looking for UFO's, if the people INTERROGATING him don't believe a word he is saying, than beat the truth out of him. otherwise let the guy go because the taxes to feed and nurture the guy will cost a lot more than $700,000. and if we plan to lock him up and throw away the key (Guantanamo bay) the cost is more than a full trial and full 70 year prison term.
does anybody have common sense these days.

[quash_bug]

70 years!!! are these people out of their minds!!
the guy said he was looking for UFO's, if the people INTERROGATING him don't believe a word he is saying, than beat the truth out of him. otherwise let the guy go because the taxes to feed and nurture the guy will cost a lot more than $700,000. and if we plan to lock him up and throw away the key (Guantanamo bay) the cost is more than a full trial and full 70 year prison term.
does anybody have common sense these days.

[nouser]

This story is just like mine. I have deadbolt locks on my doors yet a neighbor's 20 year old son broke in. He says didn't intend to steal anything though. He just wanted to look around and in so doing stoppered up the sinks and tubs and turned on the water. He didn't mean to but he caused over $150,000 in damage. I guess it was my fault for not having a pit bull running free in the home. Oh, yes, he has AIDS and his family says I should feel sorry for him, after all I have insurance.

I should feel sorry for him? Not! He is now in jail serving 3 years as this was not his first or even second break-in. Time he learned that as an adult you are responsible for your actions.

[quash_bug]

big difference.. your doors were locked, and this guy forced the government to lock theirs. too bad you didn't have a pit bull.. the family could have sued you for every thing you own for the death of their delinquent son.

[ferretboy88]

All this doors unlocked nonsense is silly. Put the kid to sleep. If he was working a full time job and had a girlfriend he would not need to find out about proof of aliens. What a loser.

[Mister Winky]

People, keep your pants on.

The possibility and probability of this hacker getting a 70 year sentence are two different things. I'd bet the 70 years figure derives from the maximum sentence that is possible on account of his being prosecuted for multiple acts of hacking. This is commonly the case when someone is prosecuted for multiple acts of the same crime.

If, for example, someone is convicted of double homicide and they receive two consecutive life sentences, each of their life sentences may become 5-10 year sentences. Calm down, take a chill pill and see what happens. There's no way this guy will receive a 70 year sentence.

And for all of you blaming the government admins for this hack, yes they bear a portion of the responsibility and deserved to be punished in some way, but this isn't an either/or scenario. Just because they secured a system poorly doesn't mean it's not illegal to hack into those systems. This guy admitted to kacking into the ssytems -- he is guilty.

-Mister Winky

[The_Decider]

Tell that to the 17 year old kid in the south doing 10 years for having sex with his 15 year old girlfriend.

[zmonster]

I say let the thing go to trial. McKinnon will be able to subpoena government witnesses who will have to truthfully testify under oath about the UFO documents he found that they are charging him with in the first place! I mean, really, this trial may very well bring out the fact that the government has been blatantly lying to people about UFOs, and worse yet, spending money in an illegal and unauthorized fashion on secret projects. I say bring it on, and force both sides to tell the truth.

[ferretboy88]

UFO's. I can't take much more of this.

[willdryden]

Quoting "national security Issues", no information on any supposed contact with extraterrestrials will be admissible.

[ferretboy88]

They should put him to sleep. He is a criminal and should be punished.

[The_Decider]

Try thinking about this instead of posting nonsense.

[renGek]

I'm sorry but I have no remorse for this guy. First of all, any good hacker can hack a network regardless of whether the company is a small 10 person company or yahoo or the government of the u.s.

I'm a programmer and my company got attacked once but it was merely a page that got defaced but not hacked so no real damage. But the perception of it was SUCH A BIG DEAL to everyone, it cause everyone including me (who has nothing to do with networks) a lot of work because everybody in management had knee jerk reactions to hackers and require us to do all kinds of extra precautions for the future (i.e. work that I don't need to be doing). I'm willing to be most companies will react the same way.

This guy knew what he was doing. Part of the thrill for any hacker is to have his name in lights for a high profile company. But they also know before they begin the possibility of being caught and punished. So by initiating the hack he acknowledges the cost and accepted it. Then he went on the run so he needs to pay the price. The fact that people here are screaming murderers get less time. Well thats the problem with the law related to murderers so go fix that. This punishment fits this crime.

[The_Decider]

70 years is reasonable? What planet do you live in?

[Erotocrat]

I think he accessed pretty sacred information and the US government wants to set an example of him. I am rather fond of the fact that he mentioned that clandestine meetings between governments and ET's were taking place at the HSF - International Space Station. Whether this is true or untrue, this said Gary McKinnon is just a fall guy who exposed the lacksadaisical rubes who run this country for what they truly are, the ?uncreative class?. These peeps are also the same lame people who brought you the wars we a fighting now and the future wars you and you children will have to fight in Russia and Iran.

[whataboutthecheese]

what cost the $700,000? was that what it cost to fix what he exploited?

[The_Decider]

Only the US government would be so cynical to say that it is 'damage' to fix security problems.

I guess those kids that exposed all the flaws in the Boston transit system did millions of dollars of damage as well.