Hacker launches last-ditch legal bid - Gary Mckinnons last stand

Breaking NewsITN

A Briton charged with hacking into US military computer networks is launching a last-ditch legal bid to avoid extradition.Software expert Gary McKinnon could face a lifetime in jail if he is found guilty in the US of sabotaging vital defence systems after the September 11 terror attacks.

He has always said that he had no malicious intent but was looking for classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed.

He has signed a statement accepting that his hacking constituted an offence under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990.

He and his family hope that, if there is a trial, it will be in the UK.

Link to source



[edit on 9-6-2009 by franspeakfree]

I have been following Gary ever since he was arrested, although again this is good media coverage for ufologists it doesn't look good for Gary.

For those of you that don't know who Gary is

Gary Mckinnon wiki

Please spare a moment for this man as his actions propelled ufology in to Media and we have him to thank for a portion of UFO related MSM coverage around the world, not just today but ever since this ordeal started for him.

Coverage on sky news

Pentagon-And-NASA-Computer-Hacker-Gary-McKinnon-In-High-Court-Fight-Against-Extradition-To-America


Coverage in the Independent

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon battles extradition to US

Coverage in the Guardian

If Labour can't protect people like Gary McKinnon, it really stands for nothing

Coverage in the Mail
British computing expert accused of hacking into U.S. military systems launches fresh extradition appeal



[edit on 9-6-2009 by franspeakfree]

reply to post by franspeakfree

My guess is that in the end, he won't do any hard time for this.
Maybe he'll even get to write a book, go on TV, etc... & make a few bucks.

Originally posted by Sam60
reply to post by franspeakfree

 

My guess is that in the end, he won't do any hard time for this.
Maybe he'll even get to write a book, go on TV, etc... & make a few bucks.

I hope so Sam, his and his families world has been turned upside down with all these threats of life imprisonment from the US government and such.

Free Gary thats what I say, and why there are at it disclose the fact that every government worldwide has had knowledge of ET.

I can't believe they'd even consider sticking him in prison if he has Asperger's.

I guess it depends on how severe it is, but my girlfirends daughter has it and i know there are million reasons why you couldn't have her in prison.

The obsessions that come with this disorder can be immemse, and can totaly overide the brains ability to think rationaly.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be punished, just not made an example of at an extreme level like i fear they will do in the US.

CX.





[edit on 9/6/09 by CX]

And thanks to the lop-sided agreement the uk goverment signed with the US ...if an american hacked our computers we would not be able to extradite them.
It does not make sense...he knew of several hackers from "not too friendly" countries hacking at the same time and yet they are not investigated.
Blame Jaqui Smith for this getting this far!!

Good Luck Gary Mackinnon!

No way does this guy deserve whats been happening to him.
Our sick government loves handing over people to the US whenever they demand anyone...and yet the US ain't to keen on handing people over to the UK.
Now,the undertones to this case seem to be that Bushco were embarassed at how slack thier 'secret' networks were and sorta wanted to make an example outta Gary,especially due to the proximity to 911.

SORRY...I just do not buy that for one minute.The fact that Gary was looking for and claimed to have found evidence of UFOs and 'non terrestrial officers' is very telling IMHO.

Secret space program anyone?
We can't be having that out in the open can we now.

If the USGov were thinking on their feet when they first busted Gary,they could have offered him a deal--Help us secure our top secret networks,or at least teach us about the whole 'password' idea,and we will drop any charges against you.
Thats what i would have done...of course I would have had secure top secret networks to begin with so none of it would have happened in the first place...

FREE GARY.arrest a real criminal...how bout Cheney???

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


This guy hacked into government systems...and your saying he doesnt deserve this? WHAT?!? seriously?....wow some interesting line of thinking....this guy knew exactly what he was doing...he knew he could be going to jail for a long long time, but yet he did not care and went ahead and still HACKED into a government system....now i dont know if he deserves life, but HELL yeah this guy deserves to be punished to full extent of the law...look i want disclosure and information as much as the next guy, but im not all for doing it illegally to get it......

Good Day
Skept!cal

reply to post by skept!cal


Well buddy,good luck in trrying to get disclosure through legal means and all.
I can't see any amount of pressure groups attaining that goal though-the best you could hope for there would be some kind of watered down version,with all the juicy details kept away from the prying eyes of the masses.

Which would be better than nothing i suppose.

However,I believe the only way a fuller disclosure would come about would rely on some kind of whistleblower/hacker/HAM radio type releasing something to the world media that could not be denied by the PTB.

In the above scenario the person who released the data/evidence would be breaking the law for sure.Question is what is more criminal:telling the truth about UFOS or hiding the truth for decades?

Another point to be considered:

Gary's "hacking" technique consisted of finding the IP adressses of "secure" networks which had User name:admin password:admin.

Wow what a genius.That was why i aluded to the "password idea" in my other post.I was being sarcastic.(They didn't use passwords)
If Gary gets locked up for this then so should the idiotic administrators of these top secret[!] networks-because these people left the door unlocked with a sign saying please come in on the door!!

Lets imagine that the PTB have actually supressed a totally free source of energy form ET,and used it to create a black space program the likes of which you or I could only begin to imagine,while keeping us masses reliant on fossil fuels--Would you consider that a crime?

Would that maybe just maybe justify Gary's motives in your eyes?

What about the aspergers angle?
Could this lead to obsessive behavioural patterns that Gary could not control maybe?

Just saying,don't throw the book at someone until you have read and fully understood the book you are attempting to throw.

I say give the guy a chance-he didnt sell secrets or blow anything up,you know?

Regards ,SS

Your logic i think is very flawed...your saying well its not Gary's fault because the admins didnt put up a good password to keep ppl out?....He should of never been in there in the first place...kind of like saying well "i robbed the bank because someone said it would be easy".....Understand how i think your logic is flawed a lil....and to say the goverments are making a high crime by not telling us what they have learned of UFO's...well sir can i see the proof that shows that the goverments ABSOLUTELY have proof?...not Majestic12 documents or any of that kind of BS...SOME ACTUAL W/OUT A DOUBT PROOF...if you got it id love to see it....thanks in advance if you do provide the proper evidence....trust me man i want 2 believe too...id say its almost illogical to not believe there isnt something out there, but sorry to say as of right now its nothing but conjecture...I want some w/out a doubt proof...thats just the logical human in me

Good Day
Skept!cal

reply to post by franspeakfree

Here's an article from today's Sydney Morning Herald. It mentions a possible life sentence if convicted in the USA. It also mentions he might not be able to be extradited due to an unsatisfactory state of mental health.

www.smh.com.au...


[edit on 10-6-2009 by Sam60]

How is it, when someone does something bad like muder, rape or molestation they get 15 years or some low level such a naughty person sentence. But when it's something like this involving the government it's life??

OK he broke into their security system, so what? Shouldn't they have a super one anyway that only ONE person can get into? the guy who designed it....

Anyway, I fully support Mr Mckinnon and wish him all the best. He'd probably get put in with the brutes too and get beat up regularly.... but the rapists and paedo's oh no.... they get their own wing.

Fight the cause Mckinnon!!!

Originally posted by franspeakfree
Free Gary thats what I say, and why there are at it disclose the fact that every government worldwide has had knowledge of ET.

Free Gary? Why is he in jail? Been talking about possibly going for over 8 years now... has he been extradited yet?

Hmmm

Article says "Software expert" ummmm errrr okay...

If he is such an expert why no 'print screen' on that list of officers. I would have loved to cross reference names with my list

If he is such an expert, why did he not look in his cache or temp internet files because anything that was on his screen would still be in the cache or temp files and easy to retrieve

Funny though... if I saw such an important list of names, even for a glance I would remember at least one of those names

So all this fuss and no goods

Pity

Originally posted by RenDMC
How is it, when someone does something bad like muder, rape or molestation they get 15 years or some low level such a naughty person sentence. But when it's something like this involving the government it's life??

They have better lawyers. Gary'slawyer told him to plead guilty and ask for a deal. Had he pleaded innocent they would have had to prove what he did.

reply to post by zorgon


They already had the evidence that he had did it. He had no choice but to plead guilty and try and get a deal.

He broke into 97 government computers from the Navy and NASA. If they didn't have proof why would they throw out that number?

He is guilty and deserves a stiff sentance.

I wish the guy nothing but the best of luck. He was doing want a lot of hackers have been trying to do for a long time. I just can see him getting life in jail. That is for murders and rapist. I think he may do 5 years at the most in a minimum security prison where the government can have access to him and bring him in to over look and test internet security on their systems since he beat them once. Good luck Gary.

reply to post by skept!cal


As far as I'm aware, Gary got into NASA, not DOD networks. Nasa is a public organization and not part of the US military As for sabotage, LMAO. That's a trumped up charge completely, this is just exaggeration designed to get this guy extradited so he can be made an example of.

So yeah, sabotaging military computers? That's just Chinese whispers from the press.

What he did was install a host program onto those computers which got the username and password data and sent it back to him, then he used that data to access the computers.

Now here's the fun part, what you do is, you call those computers "compromised" and instead of cleaning them, you destroy them and you call them "damages" so yeah, if you destroy all the computers that he compromised that adds up to some thousands of dollars worth of damage.

So we are to assume that people at NASA have no idea about how to clean a dodgy piece of malware off their computer? Whatever the case, without the "damage" there would be absolutely no case for extradition, and thats why those computers were destroyed.

[edit on 10-6-2009 by Lazyninja]

He didn't put malware on their systems. He found one computer that didn't have a password set, then modified a script he found on the internet and had it scan for systems on the network that didn't have passwords set. Had the systems sent back, then used software that would let him logon to those systems and control them remotely. Kinda like Remote Assistance/Remote Desktop in Windows. He's admitted multiple times he's not a great hacker. What he did was very simple.

NASA having soo many systems lacking basic security like passwords is crazy. That's entirely their fault for having such a basic security measure missing. For most Hackers that's just a huge WELCOME sign.

Has anyone ever seen a video of an interview with him where he said he did in fact save a few things using the print screen key? I clearly remember this video where he mentioned it's not much, but enough to prove he's telling the truth about things he saw. I know I seen this and can't find it anywhere now.

Another thing. Keep in mind he did all this over a dial-up connection. A remote connection on dial-up being used to view hi-res images, hundreds of mb's in size, would take forever. That would take a lot of patience.