McKinnon loses appeal to prevent extradition

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The British national Gary McKinnon today lost his high court bid to avoid extradition to the US for allegedly carrying out the "biggest military computer hack of all time".

The case dates back to 2001, when it is alleged Mr McKinnon hacked into computers belonging to the US military and scientific establishments from his home in Wood Green, north London.

Under the codename Solo, he is said during a period of 18 months to have hacked into hundreds of machines belonging to the Pentagon, the US army and air force and Nasa not properly secured by officials.

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www.guardian.co.uk

One less hurdle now to get him across the pond to stand trial for his actions. I wonder when this is all said and done what kind of punishment he will get handed out as a 70 year sentence would set a record for punishment relating to computer crime I do believe. Maybe if he gets out early for good behavior he can go work with Mitnick, I'm sure he could use another loser on his crew.

edit: if you want some nice entertainment watching morons try to defend his actions go here

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Originally Posted by Syini666

www.guardian.co.uk

One less hurdle now to get him across the pond to stand trial for his actions. I wonder when this is all said and done what kind of punishment he will get handed out as a 70 year sentence would set a record for punishment relating to computer crime I do believe. Maybe if he gets out early for good behavior he can go work with Mitnick, I'm sure he could use another loser on his crew.

edit: if you want some nice entertainment watching morons try to defend his actions go here

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You obviously don't understand anything about our legal system. The real "trial" is only just about to begin. It will be in the House of Lords............ this is not our useless upper house of politicians, but the five most senior judges in England, also known as "The Law Lords".

The judges in the lower court have already given them a broad hint to throw it out in their obiter dicta......"anathema" was the word they used?

1. Plea bargaining is not acceptable in British Law.
2. Attempting to obtain a guilty plea through threats is illegal, and might even be construed to be "conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice"
3. Having a 70 year sentence on the table is "a cruel and unnatural punishment" by British and European Community standards.
4. The European Court of Human Rights can override the British Government and its legal system (see #3 above)
5. We have a concept of "contributory negligence" and there certainly was one hell of a lot of that.
6. In peacetime, civilians can only be tried by civilian courts.
7. And I very much doubt if the alleged "losses" would stand up to a professional audit ;)

Well at least its good to see that countrymen stick together and don't care if one another may have committed a crime of a quite serious nature. Considering the political climate of Europe it wouldn't surprise me if the European Court of Human Rights stepped in to have all charges dropped and gave McKinnion some kind of Fighting The Great Satan award instead. And just when I was starting to get a renewed faith in those across the pond...

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Originally Posted by Syini666

Well at least its good to see that countrymen stick together and don't care if one another may have committed a crime of a quite serious nature.

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Actually he is not a countryman of mine, he is a Scot. As is the Home Secretary: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page1388.asp, Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. You may use the link on the right of that page to send a supportive e-mail to Tony Blair :D

I would not describe McKinnon's crime as "serious". The only serious crime in my book is the criminal negligence of those responsible for the networks involved.

You must not have a public or general network with internet access attached to a secure and/or operational network. I was doing that long before McKinnon started his antics.

Administrator accounts with blank passwords................ that is a bit fundamental as well :rolleyes:

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Considering the political climate of Europe it wouldn't surprise me if the European Court of Human Rights stepped in to have all charges dropped

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No, they cannot do that, as he hasn't be officially charged with anything. In fact his lawyers haven't been able to challenge any of the evidence as such. The ECHR could only rule on the jurisdiction that should try him, as he is a European citizen.

The legal wrangling thus far has been about the extradition issue alone. Obviously our law enforcement people have evidence of his illegal activities, but they haven't charged him with anything so far. That was due to the USA being so slow in providing them with information................ it is still on file though.

EDIT: A couple of other significant points:

1. The UK Extradition Act is dated 2003. These offences are prior to that, so the 1972 arrangements should hold good. These would require the US authorities to provide prima facie evidence that there was a case to be answered and that extradition rules applied.

2. The USA has not ratified the current treaty, so the whole thing should be dismissed as "no case to answer"

That would leave McKinnon answerable to British Courts under British Law.

McKinnon was an idiot for what he did and deserves justice, but not what the US have in store for him.

I hope the lords see sense and block his extradition, at which point he can be tried here and sentenced appropriately.

Mark

True under the present act the uS doesn't even need to supply any evidance for the extradition. Whereas if a British court wanteed to extradite an american citizen they would have to provide enought evidance to justify his guilt. Oh and by the way he is innocent of all offenses till proven guilty :).
An interesting point if you leave your front door open and some one gets caught burgling your house he can only be charged with tresspass and not breaking and entry which is much more serious.
And syini i doubt you have a clue about the political climate in europe at the present time.

It's all about "pride" and "stupidity", and face lots of it...or loss of it...:D

The US Military (according to a recent story I recently read) spends approx $65 Billion on IT this probably covers more then your average WinXP's (like systems for weapons etc), so to have someone with a (possibly) cheap PC hack into their overpriced and under secured systems has to be really galling....this is all about scapegoating, I hope the UK system blocks the extradition, I don't think the US Military has been above board (possible oxymoron there) in providing all of the information needed by his defense, lets face it the US Military Security (definite oxymoron) agencies under the cover of Homeland Security can probably make just about any case they want against anyone they want, they could do anything they like....(hope they are not reading this...:eek:)

They should offer him the rank of Colonel and employ him in their IT department in the Pentagon, maybe fire a few deadwoods or incompetents...:rolleyes:

//Off topic a bit:

"Political Climate in Europe"................actually there isn't one, although it is a misconception that quite a few North Americans and others seem to have.

Although the EU is a political and economic grouping, it is nothing like the US's "states" or the "provinces" in Canada and Australia's states.

There is NO EU:

1. Army
2. Navy
3. Airforce
4. Coasguard.
5. Customs
6. Law Enforcement Agency or Agencies
7. Counter Intelligence Agency
8. Espionage Agency
9. Federal Taxation
10. Common Language
11. Common Currency (think about that one ;))
12. Correct side of the highway to drive on.

Also:

1. The individual states have retained their sovereignty.
2. Two members have thermonuclear weapons, the rest don't.
3. Some have Royal Families.

Each member state has its own collection of political parties........... it isn't a two horse race.......................

Just thought I would mention it incase some members wonder why Europe seems to act in a very disjointed fashion :D

EDIT: Don't worry Dalek old chap:

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hope they are not reading this...:eek:

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You used polysyllabic encryption............they will never crack your post :p