UK hacker sentence ‘too harsh’
p2p news / p2pnet: You can’t hack something that’s wide open already. It’s like getting sued for tuning into a radio station.
That was a p2pnet reader’s comment on news that a UK hacker, who was able to repeatedly penetrate US defense establishments through what was said to have been poor security, was facing possible extradition to America.
Now, “British hackers say he is being made an example of to serve political ends rather than improve computer security,” says the BBC. “The punishment he faces, up to 70 years in jail, was also too harsh a sentence for the crimes he has confessed to.”
The Bush administration says between February, 2001, and March, 2002, McKinnon, “hacked into dozens of computers used by the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense,” the story goes on.
“While Mr McKinnon has admitted that he spent years wandering round military computer networks, he denies that his hacking was ever motivated by anything other than curiosity. Despite this, the US government is attempting to extradite him to stand trial for what one American prosecutor called ‘the biggest military computer hack of all time’.”
McKinnon said he was trying to prove the US Defense Department knew about the existence of extraterrestrials.
Also See:
BBC – UK hackers condemn McKinnon trial, May 8, 2006
May 8th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
“McKinnon said he was trying to prove the US Defense Department knew about the existence of extraterrestrials.”
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he should have wandered around UK military computer networks.
it was recently announced by the UK government that a special secret report done in december 2000 “proves” extraterrestrial visits and ufo sightings have no basis in fact, that there is no evidence this has ever happened, and that any alleged sightings or abductions are dismissed as natural phenomena.
May 8th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Thanked him for finding the holes in the security!
May 9th, 2006 at 4:47 am
“Secret report done in december 2000 “proves” extraterrestrial visits and ufo sightings have no basis in fact”, Yea right that’s why the U.S. Army had a 100 men on their hand’s and knee’s combing the desert picking up the smallest of pieces of debris from a so called weather balloon crash in Roswell N.M. in 1947!!! Common sence will tell you cover up!!!
May 9th, 2006 at 10:01 am
duh…you don’t understand sarcasm, do you?
May 9th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
WOW, 70 years!!!! dang
In the uk, you could be a serial killer, paedophile, rapist, bank robber, and still get less time in jail than that. Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime!!!
May 11th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Gary McKinnon is not guilty of any hacking The internet was designed as an open access system right from the concept it was designed to share information. If the US government choose to connect secret systems to it unprotected by leaving default passwords they are actualy inviting access on an open system. However they also routinely burgle other peoples computers on a continuous 24 hr 7 day a week basis,also they illegaly tap telephone calls via the keyhole sattelite,and have installed an illegal backdoor access to every copy of windows operating system to allow themselves in they are far more guilty than Gary Mckinnon.see the following link
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html
June 12th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
The article cited has a link to a non-existant page which would have (were it really there) actually showed the supposed secret keys.