Parliamentary support builds for NASA hacker

Support is building in the British Parliament and from legal experts for self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon to be tried in the U.K.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile of Berriew, Queen's Counsel, the independent reviewer of Britain's antiterror laws, told CNET News sister site ZDNet UK on Wednesday that McKinnon's diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition on the autistic spectrum, means he should be tried in Britain rather than in the U.S.

Gary McKinnon

(Credit: ZDNet UK)

McKinnon was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome last summer by Cambridge University autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen. Despite the diagnosis, the Home Office refused to halt McKinnon's extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking 97 U.S. military computers.

McKinnon, who is 43 years old, faces up to 70 years in a maximum security jail if tried and found guilty under U.S. antiterror laws. U.S. prosecutors claim McKinnon was politically motivated to access the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and NASA systems. McKinnon claims he was searching for UFOs.

"In my opinion, Mr. McKinnon can be prosecuted in the U.K. since the acts of hacking occurred within our jurisdiction," Carlile told ZDNet UK. "I believe that Professor Simon Baron-Cohen's opinion that he is clearly placed within the category of autism spectrum disorder, with potential serious injury to his health were he to be transferred to the U.S. legal system, strongly reinforces the case for him to be tried in this jurisdiction."

In December, McKinnon signed a confession in an attempt to avoid extradition, admitting to offenses under section 2 of the U.K. Computer Misuse Act. McKinnon's legal team sent the confession to the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who is still in the process of making a decision as to whether to prosecute McKinnon in the United Kingdom. A U.K. prosecution would help McKinnon avoid extradition.

"We'd hope to make a decision soon," a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Tuesday.

Lord Carlile told The Guardian on Monday that he had sent a letter to home secretary Jacqui Smith pressing for U.K. prosecution for McKinnon. Lord Carlile is one of a growing number of parliamentarians who are taking up McKinnon's cause. Eighty members of Parliament have now signed an early day motion urging the home secretary not to permit McKinnon's extradition.

Members of Parliament who have signed the motion include the Conservative shadow minister for justice, David Burrowes, Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Vince Cable and Independent Labour MP Clare Short.

Lord Carlile is also one of an increasing number of legal experts calling for U.K. prosecution for the self-confessed hacker. The all-party law-reform and human-rights organization Justice told ZDNet UK on Monday that the idea of McKinnon being tried under U.S. antiterror laws was problematic.

"The U.K. should seriously consider whether to prosecute here," said Justice director Roger Smith. "One of the problems of extradition is that people are tried by the standards of that country, but whatever he is, McKinnon is not a terrorist. He should not be dealt with as a terrorist. Lord Carlile in this case was speaking as a reviewer of terrorism."

Smith added that Justice thinks McKinnon should be charged and dealt with by U.K. authorities as a matter of policy, rather than human rights. "We think he should be tried here," he said. "He could be tried here or elsewhere, but our view is he should be tried here where [he has] strong connections."

Human rights organization Liberty, which has in the past provided legal representation for McKinnon, told ZDNet UK on Tuesday that the extradition agreement with the U.S. should be changed to allow for extradition to be halted on compassionate grounds.

"Any humane extradition scheme must allow for extradition to be refused on compelling compassionate grounds," said Liberty legal director James Welch. "If the Extradition Act can't accommodate this, then this is yet another way in which this unprincipled legislation is flawed."

Liberty has campaigned for the extradition agreement between the U.K. and the U.S. to be made reciprocal. Currently, U.S. prosecutors do not need to provide prima facie evidence of wrongdoing in a U.K. court to secure the extradition of a U.K. citizen to their country.

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[sartor1]

70 years prison via US prosecution
vs
How much time to serve if prosecuted in Great Britain?
A couple years and a hand slap?

What has his disease to do with it anyway?
That guy is smart enough to hack into a Major US computer system,
he obviously isn't deleteriously affected by his ailment!

[umbrae]

I have a child with autism. It greatly affects judgment and general moralities that normal people might think is common sense. Asperger's is less severe than what my child has, but it is still relevant in this case. Sort of like giving a man on crutches a ticket for j-walking because they could not make it across the street in time. Bringing him in on terrorism charges is abusive regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

This is more about NASA's security being weak than any major accomplishment on McKinnon's side. Obviously he was caught, so this is just someone that took advantage of an open door rather than a skilled mastermind.

[pithenumber]

@sartor
the computer lacked an admin password
about half of the elementary school students in the US could probably get in

[umbrae]

He is just a Kook. Let him stay in the UK. We have too many crazies in the US anyway.

Shame on NASA for being so easily hackable even a mentally disabled adult could do it.

[catch23]

'Mentally disabled' isn't quite the right term. Asperger's doesn't tend to hinder mental ability; but moral judgment and impulse control can be greatly affected.

Your right on the NASA part, though. The people that should be arrested are the admins in charge of the system he broke into. For gross negligence, if nothing else.

[umbrae]

Asperger's is a form of ASD and is considered a "disability" in the US. Not sure if that counts in the UK. "Mentally Disability" may not be entirely correct, but it is universally understood.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Pretty handy being diagnosed with Asperger's right after commiting a crime that could get him extradited to the US.
So, if he were to shoot someone this would make it OK because supposedly he has Asperger's?

Anyone who can perform the complex tasks required to become knowledgable enough to hack systems on the internet cannot be mentally handicapped enough to claim he didn't know it was wrong.

Although I believe the US laws are a little draconian in this case, clearly he deserves more than a slap on the wrist.

Hey, sometimes when I'm in line at the grocery store, I buy something on impulse when I know I shouldn't. Does that mean I have Asperger's? Does it mean that if I stole the item instead of buying it that should be OK?

[ReigningChamp]

Granted, the security of these systems is terrible if 1 man can hack into them. Still, even if he does have Asperger's that doesn't give him the right to do what he did. Like Mergatroid Mania said, is it ok if this man were to kill someone because his judgement is affected? Soon you'll be having copy-cats doing the same thing and trying to find excuses to hide behind. What about those who kill people because they were driving under the influence? Alcohol and drugs alter judgement, yet people still get thrown in jail for doing so.

[chuckles2008]

The issue is that not unlike many cases, the Feds tend to go after someone and claim they are dangerous, when in reality they are far from it. Terrorism for hacking? Oh yeah I forgot, violating TOS is now a federal misdemeanor. I seriously doubt he would get 70 years. Probably 3-5 is more like it. The Feds claim everything is terrorism. There's a terrorist on every street corner according to them. I was hoping this administration would be different than the last with their constant fear mongering. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[gsigas]

I agree. Everyone is freaking out because he could go to jail for 70 years, but that is unlikely. The guy is probably a non-violent first time offender. With any kind of half-decent legal defense a 3-5 year sentence is more likely and even then I bet it would be suspended. The one thing I do agree with all the 'freak out' people on is that to be fair extradition treaties should be the same in both directions (especially when the cultures and legal systems in both countries are highly compatible as is the case with the UK and US). The UK should have the right to review the evidence and determine if enough exists to support the charges and deny extradition if it doesn't. In this case though, that evidence DOES seem to exist, it just is probably not strong enough to prove the charges, but is enough to warrant a trial.

[sundance808]

if this were a movie, the spooks would have hired him already. Hey Q, need a hacker?

[renGek]

stop making excuses for him. We've gotten into the habit of making excuses for people with an illness, perceived illness, or any so call ailment. Take some damn responsibility for your crime. Don't go hiding behind something you can find in a medical text book. He knew full well what he was doing. He needs to do the time. And those blaming nasa is plain stupid. First you have no idea if they actually left their security wide open or inadvertently let someone in. You're just assuming based on your limited understanding of the case that someone wrote about in a couple of paragraphs and jumping to a quick assumption. Second, if you leave your home and leave the door unlock and it gets broken into, you're saying you're crap out of luck, its your fault, ain't no cops gonna catch the criminals but they are going to come arrest you instead. Thats retarded. And do you even know any uber hackers. You can't stop them even if you want to. No amount of security will prevent them access. They're scary brillant.

[shawnlin]

I am actually more concerned about the extradition treaty as I think it is rediculous that the guy can be extradited to the US for a crime he committed over the internet while physically in the UK. So if the UK government decides to censer some material (such as Nazi related logos) and somebody physically in the US posts the censered material onto an UK website, would this person be extradited to the UK? This treaty needs to be reviewed by both the US and UK. In this case, I think the US goverment should sue this guy in the UK under UK laws.

[chash360]

The lack of understanding of Asperger's is astounding but not unexpected. I have a neice with it, she is very bright, intelligent and good natured, but lacks some of the emotional and right-wrong judgement that most people have. I would even venture to guess that people with this condition gravitate to technical and computer related fields because of the absence of emotional and social nature involved in other fields.

Yes it is arguable that someone with this condition might not feel bad if they commited a crime, simply because they did not -feel- they were commiting a serious crime. As for implying this person is dangerous saying what if he commited a murder, etc. Those crimes typically involve extreme emotions and reactions that a person with this condition would simply not have.

The terrorist accusation, if he was truly just looking for UFO information, is totally uncalled for.

If the computer system he 'hacked' had no admin password then he really shouldn't even be charged with anything, thats not hacking, thats surfing, its like being charged with burglary, for walking through an open door of a public place, that should have been locked. Exactly how would you know a computer system was not meant for public access if it had no account/password restriction? Do you know where the server is physically located, or who owns it, that is hosting this application? It could be in a secure government facillity for all most people know, are you guilty of terrorism by accessing it?

[itbarthur4u]

While I see cause for concern for Gary the real question is did he gain access to the 97 Military computers as claimed. Is the Military also that sloppy with security? If he has no clear terrorist connections we should hire him to help strengthen our security measures. Then tell him there's info about UFOs in Iran's computers LOL.

Maybe instead of putting him in prison his activities could be monitored to find out what other security glitches he stumbles onto. An examination of his computer should make quick work of any unfounded accusations. We do need to balance our security needs with common sense.