British Hacker may be Extradited to US

A Can of Man

A Can of Man

Je suis aware
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56U1XD20090731

Basically a British hacker was able to hack into the US military's networks and NASA's networks as well and cause all kinds of mayhem.
He's been fighting against extradition to the US but has lost his case so he very well could be headed Stateside to enjoy some maximum security cockmeat sandwich.
Funny part:

"It's a disgrace, and they should be highly embarrassed," Janis Sharp [His mother] told reporters outside the court. "This is from the Bush era, it is hold-over from the Bush era."
President Barack Obama "would not want this to happen," she said.

Yeah he would.
Let's just hope internet security at NASA and the Pentagon are up to speed now.
 
The extradition treaty with America was brought in to facilitate the extradition of terrorists. All the new 'terrorist' measures are very controversial because they are suspected of being an excuse for infringing human rights.

This guy claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs. Even if not, is there any reasonable evidence that he was going to send any information to an enemy? ie. was there evidence of him being a spy? If not perhaps the US government should be thankful he wasn't Al Queda and pay him for testing their security measures rather than trying to prosecute him.

On top of all this he has Aspergers syndrome "Asperger syndrome is part of the autism spectrum. "It is not uncommon for people with Asperger syndrome to develop single-minded, obsessional interests, and to be unaware of the effect their actions have on others."

Is this extradition agreement fully reciprocal by the way?

Mr McKinnon also criticised arrangements between the two countries that meant the US only had to prove "reasonable suspicion" to force extradition of a British citizen.
To extradite an American from the US, the British must prove "probable cause".
Click to expand...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8172842.stm

Sounds like the sort of incident which will be made into a true "Rain Man" film and make the military look ridiculous being compromised by a mental case.
 
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Really? Because extradition could happen for any number of reasons. Noriega wasn't a terrorist by any stretch of the imagination but there is an extradition order for him undergoing some kind of legal process at this point (from France).
http://www.newser.com/article/d999o...court-to-block-his-extradition-to-france.html
So whereas it might have been signed between the UK and the US because of terrorism, it shouldn't mean that other criminals be excluded from it entirely either. Besides, you could argue that his actions could be classified as cyber terrorism.

I have a friend diagnosed with Aspergers so it's not like I don't know the first thing about it but it's a condition that's apparently highly debatable and it's not as well defined as other conditions associated with autism.
I don't know just how bad Gary McKinnon's case of Aspergers is, but my friend is able to function rather rationally. He does strike a lot of people as being rather odd but he didn't do anything that really harmed anyone and he does understand what harms others and what does not.

According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
Characteristics

A pervasive developmental disorder, Asperger syndrome is distinguished by a pattern of symptoms rather than a single symptom. It is characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction, by stereotyped and restricted patterns of behavior, activities and interests, and by no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or general delay in language.[4] Intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, one-sided verbosity, restricted prosody, and physical clumsiness are typical of the condition, but are not required for diagnosis.[8]


Doesn't necessarily say that they will not measure the consequences of their actions. The defense may be stretching the definition a bit. Or else someone with Aspergers could get away with just about anything.

I don't think the extradition is final at this point but according to the article it seems like it's pretty close to becoming a reality.
 
lots of chechen terrorists and thiefs from Russia hiding in london and they dont extradate them. oh politics. leave the poor kid alone and maby even give him a job. I would.
 
Which would you rather have in your government network, British guy or Chinese kids? If this guy had tried to do some harm or give information to an enemy then I'd see why you'd be so pissed, but otherwise all he's done is expose a vulnerability that you really want to know about.
 
He is a nerdy computor type in his forties. He behaves rationally and speaks well on the subject; obviously he has a boffin type expertise, and expresses his surprise at how easy it all was; I guess he was expecting info re UFO's etc might be found at those sites, and it seems he had no malicious intent whatsoever. As it happens, one of the symptoms of this illness is an inability to lie, due to having no understanding of lying.

His supporters would like to have him tried in Britain 0n the same charges; they feel that USA would provide more support and protection to its own citizens in such circumstances. It appears that the agreement is lop-sided in that USA can claim Brits for extradition without providing evidence, whereas Britain has to provide all evidence to USA first before same is rendered.

It occurs to me that rather than persecuting this guy, he should be asked to provide as much as he can regarding why and how he found access so easy; if he found this so, then who knows how many real enemies of malicious intent have done likewise.

The important question then arises - How could it happen? Should have been impossible.
 
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