NASA Hacker Loses Another Extradition Appeal

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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Gary McKinnon lost another bid to hide in his home country last week when the UK Home Secretary turned down an appeal to block the extradition request based on medical grounds. McKinnon, who is accused of hacking into NASA and Pentagon IT systems in 2001 & 2002, has Asperger’s Syndrome.

The Home Secretary said it would not breach McKinnon's human rights to send him for trial in the U.S., and so he had no power to prevent the extradition. McKinnon's lawyers will next week apply for a judicial review and, if necessary appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
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I am so hoping this guy gets nailed just for being such a whinny little bitch. The UK has to be getting tired of this
 
So he lost his asperger defense. Okay.

Starting a betting ring, next defense is PTSD brought upon by the stress induced from the series of lost appeals.
 
The most retarded thing in this case still is of course that this 'hacker' broke into some systems which had blank or default (easy to guess) passwords. The real question therefore is not whether this guy should be extradited, but how many other crackers/hackers have had a look-see inside those same systems without anyone noticing.

Of course, that's the truth the US wouldn't want you to know, because their security is, like, top-notch :rolleyes:
 
I can see why he's fighting this to the last appeal. Who would want to be jailed in another country away from their family and friends? Atleast if they jailed him over there he could possibly have them visit without much trouble.

They bring him over here and suddenly its much harder to visit. Gotta take a plane and all that. And he's probably scared shitless of the possibility of ending up in a Max Security prison and being thrown in with gen pop.

Did they ever say what kind of prison they'd throw him in?
 
I wonder how long it'll take for enough countries to get tired of the US trying to police the world...
 
ChairmanMiau said:
I wonder how long it'll take for enough countries to get tired of the US trying to police the world...
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I agree that the US should try minding its own business more but just how does that apply here? these were OUR computers he hacked, our money he wasted (easy to do with government anything), and our defense he compromised (yes there is real harm here, there needs to be a penalty to doing this for our security)

going after someone like this is hardly "policing the world".
 
Elledan said:
The most retarded thing in this case still is of course that this 'hacker' broke into some systems which had blank or default (easy to guess) passwords. The real question therefore is not whether this guy should be extradited, but how many other crackers/hackers have had a look-see inside those same systems without anyone noticing.

Of course, that's the truth the US wouldn't want you to know, because their security is, like, top-notch :rolleyes:
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No, the most retarded thing is people who think it's OK to access, "hack," "break in" or whatever you want to call it. He accessed machines that he had zero, none, nada reason to be in. Passworded or not, does not matter. Fact is he accessed the machine(s) illegally, period. I can't understand for the life of me why anyone can't understand that.
 
Frankly, I'm sick and tired of hearing about this case. Just how much time, effort and money has gone into attempting to extradite this one scumbag? I think this is simply a case of political posturing on both sides of the Atlantic.
 
qdemn7 said:
I think this is simply a case of political posturing on both sides of the Atlantic.
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But that is what makes it so entertaining. What will happen next? Will the human rights defense work? Will they throw a curve ball and go for some loophole in the treaty? Will he inflict personal harm after this last appeal dries up? Oh the suspense!

One thing I would absolutely hate to see is this driving the guy to suicide though. That'd be terrible.
 
Personally I would utilize a person who has Asperger’s Syndrome and is into hacking, computer science.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
No, the most retarded thing is people who think it's OK to access, "hack," "break in" or whatever you want to call it. He accessed machines that he had zero, none, nada reason to be in. Passworded or not, does not matter. Fact is he accessed the machine(s) illegally, period. I can't understand for the life of me why anyone can't understand that.
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You think if you leave a set of doors unlocked some guy who isn't 100% right in his head (this guy was looking stuff on UFOs) isn't going to walk through those doors some day? There's no excuse for not exercising proper security protocols on these computer systems and networks.
 
Elledan said:
You think if you leave a set of doors unlocked some guy who isn't 100% right in his head (this guy was looking stuff on UFOs) isn't going to walk through those doors some day? There's no excuse for not exercising proper security protocols on these computer systems and networks.
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True but he also should've known the consequences of accessing said systems without clearance. People are acting like the guy was an animal that wandered into someone's yard through an open gate. When he was alerted of the consequences of his actions and he scoffed at em.

Now he's doing everything possible to keep from ending up over here(which I totally understand, I wouldn't want to leave the US to go to jail on another continent.).

Also the administrators of the systems he accessed shouldn't get off scott-free either, thats if they haven't been reprimanded already.
 
Valset said:
these were OUR computers he hacked, our money he wasted (easy to do with government anything), and our defense he compromised
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Stop waving that flag for just a second. What he did do was highlight a potentially fatal security flaw in NASA's network(s). Really, I don't know how that is compromising defense; in fact, one could see it as an unintentional favor for defense. Note that I'm not defending his actions: he didn't do anything harmful, but acted like a silly kid. But he did you no harm. He did no-one any harm. In fact, I wouldn't wish the US prison system on anyone, even if they did harm someone.

Valset said:
(yes there is real harm here, there needs to be a penalty to doing this for our security)
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1. See above. There was no harm done. Gary McKinnon could have not 'hacked' the NASA network(s), then the real hackers could have exploited that gaping security hole and caused some real damage (human lives or otherwise).

2. Penalty? Why not send the UK the scores of script kiddies who have caused 'damage' to 'us' so they can be thrown in a maximum security facility and be raped multiple times before being stabbed and left to bleed out, simply to make an example out of them? Oh, that's right, the UK doesn't have an exploitative treaty looming over your citizens.

Valset said:
going after someone like this is hardly "policing the world".
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It's quite simple: if you're a government reaching out & plucking someone from a country in which they hold citizenship, you're at least trying to police the world.

ir0nw0lf said:
the most retarded thing is people who think it's OK to access, "hack," "break in" or whatever you want to call it.
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We don't. However, we think it is far more wrong to extradite this man who is, relative to the governments who are victimizing him, innocent.

ir0nw0lf said:
Fact is he accessed the machine(s) illegally, period.
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So at least let him be tried in his home country.

qdemn7 said:
Frankly, I'm sick and tired of hearing about this case.
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Stop browsing to news websites, then.

qdemn7 said:
Just how much time, effort and money has gone into attempting to extradite this one scumbag?
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Ah, so my suspicions are once again confirmed. People who moan about government spending only want to see that spending go towards harming people rather than anything good.

Riftsaw said:
Will he inflict personal harm after this last appeal dries up? Oh the suspense!
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Yeah, let's make a reality TV show about it. Such entertainment.

Riftsaw said:
One thing I would absolutely hate to see is this driving the guy to suicide though. That'd be terrible.
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If he does get extradited, he won't be alive long enough to commit suicide. Mark my words.

Riftsaw said:
True but he also should've known the consequences of accessing said systems without clearance.
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The government should know the consequences of an insecure network. Let's not support the US government trying to divert attention away from its own incompetence by making an example out of this poor guy.

Riftsaw said:
Also the administrators of the systems he accessed shouldn't get off scott-free either, thats if they haven't been reprimanded already.
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They certainly should be fired, IMO.
 
Elledan said:
You think if you leave a set of doors unlocked some guy who isn't 100% right in his head (this guy was looking stuff on UFOs) isn't going to walk through those doors some day? There's no excuse for not exercising proper security protocols on these computer systems and networks.
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In your example the crazy man would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and slammed in prison for years, regardless whether the homeowner locked the doors.

ChairmanMiau said:
He did no-one any harm.
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Brush up on the case before commenting on it. He erased whole hard drives (his own words) to cover his tracks. Those hard drives contained projects that took thousands of hours of work by hundreds of individuals. Some data was irreplaceable.

If you don't want to go on trial in another country, don't commit crimes there. Our citizens are on trial right now, as we speak in hundreds of other countries for committing crimes there.

Not sure why you are arguing so hard against the U.S. here.:confused:
 
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Steve said:
Your right Steve.Were talking about a guy here who is a major threat to the US, the most powerful military force in the world. A force that can destroy anybody any where in the world at any time they choose.Well except for Bin Laden of course.This nobody, deserves to be locked up and the key thrown away. To extradite this nobody, makes me wonder what kind of prison system the Brits have that the US would not feel safe to have him rot there instead.
I think the US should send in the marines and haul that son of a bitch out of there in case they change their minds. To pay $50,000 dallars a year or more to keep him in prison in the US is nothing compared to peace of mind one gets feeling safe from this delusional hacker. Thank God I can sleep at night knowing this threat to my survival is going to be locked up on US soil.
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Hell yeah is a national threat! He found the governmental emergency backup of all the porn on the internet and DELETED it. I'd fly over there and kick his ass myself if I could!

Seriously though, he's an example to other would be hackers/crackers. If you're going to walk into barely secured government servers you better make DAMN sure you cover your tracks well or you will be found. Srsly.
 
Valset said:
I agree that the US should try minding its own business more but just how does that apply here? these were OUR computers he hacked, our money he wasted (easy to do with government anything), and our defense he compromised (yes there is real harm here, there needs to be a penalty to doing this for our security)

going after someone like this is hardly "policing the world".
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Well, you could start by thanking the hackers for being non-malicious and showing how fucking ignorant and undeservedly elitist our government is when it comes to things, such as cyber security.

Everyone who isn't a complete fucking moron understands that this is doing absolutely nothing to deter future hackers, and everything to do with showing the world how unstoppable America it is, whether it be ruining schizophrenic UFO hunter's lives or starting illegal wars in innocent, sovereign nations based on fake evidence and a lying commander in chief.
 
Here in the UK the McKinnon debacle has become a 'cause celebre' to a lot of people as an example of a large faceless government agency picking on the 'little guy'.

But now that the case has become so high profile, the US agency asking for him will be forced to stand their ground else it could set some international precedent for extraditing hackers. Meanwhile over here certain media outlets and various out spoken politicians will continue to harangue our government to intervene with the case. End result? We can expect Gary and his alien chums to be on our news feeds for some time to come ;)
 
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