Has Gary McKinnon got off with Crime?

kestrelx · 19-10-2012, 08:48

Should computer hacker Gary McKinnon have been extradited to the USA for hacking into the Pentagon Computer systems.

He also stated something like "He would do it again at the highest level!" This is not word for word what he said but the gist of a quote featured on the BBC News!

Also should he now be tried in the UK?

cashman · 19-10-2012, 09:17

My view is simple,he should have been extradited end of.

kestrelx · 19-10-2012, 09:21

This is the quote that was on the news...

"US foreign policy is akin to Government-sponsored terrorism these days … It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year … I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels …" Gary McKinnon

He's admitted it and said he'd do it again - yet he's got off with it. Even though he has the genius to do this.

cashman · 19-10-2012, 09:25

Exactly, this is "NOT" cheating at Snakes @ Ladders,Its a damn site more dangerous than that, His illness is no excuse, in fact it was only diagnosed years after he did it.

BERNADETTE · 19-10-2012, 09:26

Yes he should

Margaret Pilkington · 19-10-2012, 10:13

No he should not have been extradited. He has Aspergers and you may think this is no excuse, but those who have Aspergers get very caught up on things(they may not realise the risks of doing what they are doing...they are emotionally detached)....they search and they search.
What should be happening is that the US should be enlisting the services of people like him.....then perhaps their computer systems would be more secure. (you need to know where the holes are in your fences, before you can even think of mending them)
It seems that I am in the minority here, but that is my view and I make no apology for it.
Just a question...if the positions had been reversed, and the person had been a US citizen who had hacked into....oh, let's say Britains Defence systems....do you really think the US would have given up one of their citizens to justice here????? I don't think they would.

Chris SUI JURIS · 19-10-2012, 10:46

Great news that he has not been handed from one set of facists to another

MargaretR · 19-10-2012, 10:50

He exposed gaping holes in US security. They got rather angry about that, but really they ought to be thankful that he did, because now their systems have been made less hackable.
The crime here was the stupidity of the yanks in having a hackable system.

When you leave your back gate open, and a dog wanders in and poops, do you blame yourself for negligence or do you demand the dog be caged?

Greeny · 19-10-2012, 12:07

I used to support a boy with aspergers syndrome, I named him " my little professor" he was so bright. One day at lunch time he was talking so much , a dinner lady told him to be quiet and eat his dinner or go and eat it outside , he corrected her saying she means dine al fresco , he had no idea he was being cheeky and was puzzled as to why he was being chastised .

Neil · 19-10-2012, 13:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

No he should not have been extradited. He has Aspergers and you may think this is no excuse, but those who have Aspergers get very caught up on things(they may not realise the risks of doing what they are doing...they are emotionally detached)....they search and they search.

He broke the law and it is for a court to decide what his punishment should be after taking into account all the facts including any medical conditions.

Neil · 19-10-2012, 13:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

......When you leave your back gate open, and a dog wanders in and poops, do you blame yourself for negligence or do you demand the dog be caged?

I blame the owner of the dog, not quite the same thing is it?

kestrelx · 19-10-2012, 14:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

He exposed gaping holes in US security. They got rather angry about that, but really they ought to be thankful that he did, because now their systems have been made less hackable.
The crime here was the stupidity of the yanks in having a hackable system.

When you leave your back gate open, and a dog wanders in and poops, do you blame yourself for negligence or do you demand the dog be caged?

Being mentally ill if aspergers is really a mental illness? Should not stop him going to court - if you asked me to hack into any computer I wouldn't have a clue but it would take some study to do so.

Anyway if someone murders someone and they are mentally ill, they are not let off, just because of that fact. As Neil says he should go to court in this country and a court should take everything into account.

He knew what he was doing because he apparently left this message on one of the computers; I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels …

Margaret Pilkington · 19-10-2012, 14:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

He broke the law and it is for a court to decide what his punishment should be after taking into account all the facts including any medical conditions.

The home secretary took into account his medical condition when deciding whether he should be extradited.....he may still stand trial here in this country,as far as I understand, his case is with Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions.
So he hasn't got off with anything....yet.

Maybe he has already been punished enough.....the last, what is it? Ten years...with different home secretaries huffing and chuffing about whether to send this chap over the pond......he is never going to retrieve the peace of mind of those ten years.

The US says jump, and we ask 'how high...and for how long'.
I think the right decision about extradition was reached....as I said, if the boot had been on the other foot, would the US have been loading one of their citizens onto a plane for summary justice here? Of course they would.(NOT)

Guinness · 19-10-2012, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by kestrelx

Being mentally ill if aspergers is really a mental illness? Should not stop him going to court - if you asked me to hack into any computer I wouldn't have a clue but it would take some study to do so.

Anyway if someone murders someone and they are mentally ill, they are not let off, just because of that fact. As Neil says he should go to court in this country and a court should take everything into account.

He knew what he was doing because he apparently left this message on one of the computers; I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels …

I posted this a couple of years ago in another thread about this case and it still holds true..

Aspergers manifests itself in many ways, one of which causes the sufferer to be 'amoral'....wherein he knows right from wrong but his brain cannot recognise the reasoning behind it and his flawed logic therefore dictates he ignores the distinction.

And I vote no to extradition...the crime was committed here

Margaret Pilkington · 19-10-2012, 14:40

Aspergers is part of the Autistic spectrum....and Guinness is right when he says it comes in many varieties........those who have Aspergers may not be able to tell right from wrong...they do not interact well socially and prefer lone pursuits.
They are very single minded in their pursuits........computers must have been his 'thing'.....I wouldn't know how to hack into anything...but he must have learned this.

It would have been more of a problem if he had offered to sell whatever he found out, or if he had tried to corrupt the data on the US systems....but he did not(to my knowledge) do this.
The US should be thankful that their deficiencies had been spotted, and could be corrected.