UFO hacker McKinnon loses appeal
p2pnet.net news:- Self-described ‘bumbling computer nerd’ Gary McKinnon, who started his hacking career looking for proof of a UFO cover-up by penetrating American computers, has lost his attempt to halt his extradition from Britain to the US.
And bad timing may have had something to do with US determination to get him onto home shores.
One hack, involving the Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey, happened immediately after September 11, 2001, says Associated Press.
“McKinnon, 41, from north London, is accused of gaining access to some 97 US military and Nasa computers in 2001 and 2002,” says Press Association, going on:
“Home Secretary John Reid granted the US request to extradite him for trial, but on Tuesday his lawyers argued that he had been subjected to ‘improper threats’, and the move would breach his human rights.”
McKinnon’s supporters say he’s being made a scapegoat for US shortcomings but, “We do not find any grounds of appeal”, said Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Goldring on Tuesday, dismissing his legal challenge.
“Ben Cooper, appearing for McKinnon, said a bid would now be made to appeal the case to the House of Lords, the highest court in the land.,” says PA.
In America, district judge Nicholas Evans said McKinnon left notes on computer systems criticising US foreign policy, says AP.
“U.S. foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism,” Evans quoted one such note as saying, states the report.
It, “seems only just that Gary should face any charges in a British court, and to serve any sentence, if he is found guilty, in a British prison,” says a Free Gary site.
“He has admitted accessing U.S. systems, but maintains that he never damaged any of the systems he entered,” said a CNET News story last year. “When his actions were first discovered, the U.K. authorities did not think they were serious enough to be worth prosecuting.”
“The only people who should be facing a trial and punishment are the morons who failed to lock down networks containing classified information,” thought p2pnet reader Tony over in Australia, from where DoD (DrinkorDie) member Hew Raymond Griffiths, aka Bandido, was extradited to the US.
Griffiths now faces up to 10 years in jail and a possible $500,000 fine for alleged conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement..
“McKinnon’s supporters say he’s being made a scapegoat for US shortcomings,” and they’re right, says a p2pnet Reader’s Write, going on:
Someone “hacked” into the same computers 10 years prior using the exact same tactics. Google Mathew Bevan for details, or check out the BBC story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4761985.stm
What McKinnon did was careless and stupid. It was an unsophisticated crack that could only possibly have worked versus a very low security computer system. The fallacy of the breached systems is the fact that they had very weak passwords (i.e., “password”) or no password whatsoever.
McKinnnon will get a serious sentence because it’s easier for the US to make an example of him than to enforce passwords on its desktop computers.
Like Gary McKinnon, Mathew Bevan was, “interested in information about UFOs and spent months combing networks in search of hidden data,” says the BBC story, going on:
Mr Bevan can easily understand why Mr McKinnon kept hacking the same systems for so long when common-sense would have told him that his luck would run out sooner or later.
“You just feel like you are invincible really,” he said, describing the feeling he got when he successfully broke in to a network.
Once a hacker has won access to sensitive networks, the urge to keep on going to find more hidden information was hard to fight, he said.
“I liken it to perhaps the feeling that a parent might get if they find their child’s diary,” he said. “They know they should not read it, they know its wrong [but] they just cannot help themselves.”
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
Associated Press – Man Accused of Hacking Faces Extradition, April 3, 2007
Press Association – Hacker accused faces US extradition, April 3, 2007
CNET News – Alleged NASA hacker’s appeal set for New Year, December 11, 2006
DoD (DrinkorDie) – DrinkorDie Griffiths faces jail, February 23, 2007
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:19 am
I guess governments betraying their citizens to foreign powers is the in thing among governments. I only hope that this guy has British and U.S. secrets that he can share with their enemies. That is what I would do if my government betrayed me to a foreign power. I would do anything I could to hurt the government that betrayed me.
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:20 am
Enough said.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:30 am
“McKinnon’s supporters say he’s being made a scapegoat for US shortcomings”
His supporters are right. Someone “hacked” into the same computers 10 years prior using the exact same tactics. Google Mathew Bevan for details, or check out the BBC story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4761985.stm
What McKinnon did was careless and stupid. It was an unsophisticated crack that could only possibly have worked versus a very low security computer system. The fallacy of the breached systems is the fact that they had very weak passwords (i.e., “password”) or no password whatsoever.
McKinnnon will get a serious sentence because it’s easier for the US to make an example of him than to enforce passwords on its desktop computers.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:23 am
“One hack, involving the Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey, happened immediately after September 11, 2001, says Associated Press.”
For a hacker, he’s not the brightest bulb in the tree. Anyone with common sense would realize that there would be repercussions for hacking military computers post 9/11. He’s looking at some hard time, check out another hacker who didn’t even access military computers.
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/hackers/kevin-mitnick/
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Sorry to say this guys but..
He hacked into a government system.
Doesn’t matter which governments it was.
The same would happen to an American who hacks into a British Government system and gets caught.
He deserves what he gets.
Enough said.
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I must admit that I usually have an antiamerican slant to most of my opinions but I beleive this guy is right.
reguardless of the time he did it, what he did is excatly the same as purposfully breaking into someone’s house to rifle through their belongings in the hope of finding something valueable to take.
just because the window’s left open it doesn’t give you the right to enter their house.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:54 am
Hey – since you’re into UFOs, have you seen this Roswell video?
http://www.flownetworkproductions.com/evidenceofaliens.htm I thought it was fake until I watched Part 2. What do you think?