Home Secretary: McKinnon extradition must go ahead

It's been said before and many, many times but still...

Disgrace, shame and a massive failure of British Government as a protector of British citizens. Let's hope that at least the European Court will show them how to look after their own.

By Josefov on 27 Nov 2009

Manipulation of the facts

Just wanted to say how funny I find it that almost all of the press (well, those sections of it that support Gary) and especially PC Pro seem to have changed their reports on this whole incident. I remember when the news first broke and the story got picked up - there were several elements that PC Pro woudl repeat in most stories: Gary hacked several US Government installations; he admitted it; he claimed he was lokoing for UFOs; he left many, many messages denouncing the US government, claiming they'd never catch him and that this was only the beginning.

Over the last 18 months or so (and PC Pro is particularly 'guilty' of this), the reporting of Gary's elaving of those messages has been rapidly dwindling before vanishing altogether.

I wonder why that is? Maybe it's because to incnlude them in their reports would count against Gary's public perception in some way - seeing as the vast majority of the UK emdia seems intent on portraying him as merely a UFO-obssessed oddball, highlighting the fact that he effectively caught the US Government with their pants down *AND* threatened that this was a precursor to more attacks, right in their period of highest alert kind of detracts from the "only looking for Martians, Guv" defence somewhat.

Obviously, though, there's a perfectly good reason for this, I'm sure....

By bioreit on 27 Nov 2009

Typing during an AV scan

It's amazing how many typos and things creep in when your laptop's busy finalising its bootup and AV scan, isn't it?

By bioreit on 27 Nov 2009

I still haven't figured out why Aspergers Syndrome would make him vulnerable in prison. I have a cousin and a line manager with Aspergers. What makes them so difficult to be around is that nothing ever seems to phase them. Their problems affect their ability to read social situations and other people's feelings, emotions etc. Having lived and worked with people with Aspergers for many years, it's his potential cell mates I feel sorry for. It sounds very much like Gary is a very intelligent hacker who is getting what he deserves. The whole "Learning Difficulty" defence is a sham and does huge harm to those with Aspergers who are generally highly intelligent, highly capable individuals who are just rather difficult people to live with.

By Bassey1976 on 27 Nov 2009

Hurry up and get it over with

The guy's a hacker, he hacked into important computers in the US and the US want to prosecute him. Let them get on with it.

By peterm2k on 27 Nov 2009

But where was the offence committed?

@ peterm2k

I know what my personal belief is - that the territory in which the victim is located should be treated as the scene of crime and therefore prosecution - but this is a very grey area that UK, US nor international law has clarified.

Ages past, back when PC Pro's comments were in the forums, I commented on Gary's extradition and raised the issue that before any decision can be amde about this, the law needs to be clarified, with this as an example:

A man lives in France, near the German border. He stands in his own back garden and picks up a rock and hefts it at his neighbour's house, breaking a window. His neighbour happens to be across the border in Germany. Where has the crime been committed?

Once this example has been discussed and an opinion reached, THEN and only then can the discussion about extradition be commenced.

My personal thoughts are that there needs to be either some kind of international court for such matters, or that it is treated like international waters; i.e. once you're in that territory, everything's fair game, inlucding any and all retribution within that territory (over-simplified, of course!).

By bioreit on 27 Nov 2009

I don't think anyone would question the fact that McKinnon broke the law. What seems totally unacceptable is fact that he did it while being in Britain, he's a British citizen and was arrested in Britain by British forces. There's far more to support his trial in Britain under international law than in the USA under it's local, and anti-terrorist as well. Why suddenly, Britain's greatest ally doesn't trust our law enforcement and judicial system?
Would America be that happy to hand over their own hacker if he/she compromised military systems in U.K.?

By Josefov on 27 Nov 2009

To extradite or not

I am with Josefov on this why should we expedite our own nationals on request. The Americans would certainly not. This is probably why we have a biased extradition treaty. Besides they only use the UK because it gives them credibility when they want to go to war, they would ditch us very, very quickly if it suited them.

By delturner1 on 29 Nov 2009

Shameful

Simple IMHO - The man should not be extradited. He proved the US governments internal security was absolute rubbish and shamed them. For that they want to put him away forever. Think 'Bully getting one over on victim'.
Michael

By photomanlondon on 4 Dec 2009