who remembers kevin Mitnick?... i miss that guy :(

Everyone has an opinion and most are worth what you pay for them.

The fact is that McKinnon hacked U.S. military computers and he admits to it. The primary crime happened in the U.S. For Gary to be prosecuted the U.S. will need to provide proof of the hack and the damages, which they can easily do. McKinnon is going to be punish like any other criminal. There is no conspiracy just laws and punishment for those who violate law. Now it's time for Gary to serve his prison sentence.

This crime everyone keeps on talking about happened in 2001-2002 right? OK well in 2001-2002 the current extradition act was not in force. It was the 1989 extradition act, which required the USA to provide sufficient evidence to charge a defendant in the UK.

Now here is the good bit. The CPS and the US DOJ are of the opinion that between 2001-2004 or 2005 they were considering if the crime should be charged in the US or the UK. Well that is 3-4 years of thinking. I don't buy that.

I propose this is the reason. Rather than make an extradition request under the 1989 act were they needed evidence (which probably doesn't exist, is insufficient or doesn't meet UK standards. In particular see the case of R (Raissi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department where the USA made a request and did not have any evidence)) they dilly dallied until the 2003 extradition act came in to force which did not require evidence. This way getting around the evidence requirement in the 1989 act.

This is despicable and is an abuse of the processes of the courts. I do not know why McKinnon’s legal advisors have not picked up on this fact. It is clear that the dilatory actions of the US prosecutors in requesting his extradition from 2001 until 2004 or 2005 is a clear abuse and renders his extradition unjust due to the passage of time.

I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat.

McKinnon is about to get a lesson in crime and punishment. Bend over Gary and grab your ankles.

There seem to be a lot of people commenting here who are ignorant of, well, a lot. Here's a breakdown of the whole thing. McKinnon committed a crime against the US. He is therefore subject to US, not UK, law. As such, he will rightly be tried in the US.

Unlike many counties, including the UK, the US has an independent judicial system. He will receive a fair trial, as removed from politics as it can possible be. Indeed, my understanding is that the judicial system of the UK is in the process of being massively overhauled because it violated the European Convention on Human Rights; specifically, there is a slight issue concerning separation of powers, where the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government intermingle to the point of being blatantly incestuous!

Oh noes we got h4x0rred! 66 years in prison for that ,yea right ...

No proof of damages (complete BS by USA)
No proof of information stolen (complete BS by USA)

If anything, he should be employed by NASA as a security analyst, shame on U.S government.

Dont blame Obama, he is powerless against those cowboys who live their PC's unpassworded or with "password" as a codeword.

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/07/16/236932/mckinnon-hacking-case-relies-on-hearsay-internal-cps.htm

The U.S. just needs a scapegoat to distract from their own glaring faults in their governmental/military computer security.

Isn't it great when you screw up and can have somebody else hang for you?

your link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cpf5flCSvA

WTF? "daddy would you like some sausage?"

Your tag "Life in an orange jumpsuit awaits" is cruelly ironic. I doubt he will survive long in a US prison.

For the clueless, if you do the research you'll find the U.S. has tons of evidence on McKinnon and that his claims are all lies. The extradition process is legal and there is nothing anyone can do about it. McKinnon will be prosecuted like any other criminal and go to prison. Only a goddam fool would think you could get away with what McKinnon did and not be punished. Denial does not change the law.

Where I live it the law makes a big difference whether a thief finds the door open or has to break in. McKinnon more or less found the door open. The operators of the systems hacked know that there are people who will take their chances when they find badly or not secured systems.

It still makes a difference whether the guy just watches (McKinnon) or kills the husband and rapes the wife (a real terrorist). Maybe you are severly overburdened with such subtleties. People like you make me wonder whether the only reason they have a head is so they don't have to carry their hair in the hands.

The real problem is that the operators of computers and networks that are (probably) important for the U.S. of A. didn't do their jobs right - no matter whether people have a right to break in. It is their duty to have their systems secure, because there's worse people than McKinnon who will try to abuse their systems, and these people should go to jail just as well and serve a harder sentence. But you and your foul fellow hypocrites from the U.S. military prefer to cover that up to save their fucking sorry asses.

I'm following the whole story before escalates to BBC.

There are few principles here why MPs and people are against the extradition.

First US has no proof. They just claim what he did and the damages he did. He cannot be convicted in UK because what he did cannot be proven as crime, even if he admits it.

Second. The agreement between UK & US is single sided. Any UK civilian can be extradited to US with just a request. On the other side from a US citizen to be send to UK they need to have proper legal case, test tried in court and then they will decide if they will send the person out of US.

Third. 70 years in high sec prison, for $700,000 damage is bit too much. How much damage the bankers did? Why are they not in prison for damaging the world economy for over $15 trillion?

And last. The whole situation escalated when he announced that he will publish his foundings in NASA's computers back in 2003.
Cheers.

Sorry to burst your bubble about your private IP theory man, but standard DoD policy for the most part stateside is that the majority of computers use public IP addresses, in fact, the entire 147.0.0.0 range is owned by the government.The majority of its systems are on a public IP infrastructure. It isn't the brightest way to do business, but it is still the way that things go.

Hopefully Gary will rot in a U.S. prison. This should be a lesson for all who believe that they are above the law. Gary's fanbois should be jailed for supporting a criminal. They are too illiterate to be allowed on the streets. Judgment day awaits.

umm...

well damn, guess this is the only tune he'll be playing from now on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cpf5flCSvA

but seriously, I think sending him to prison is wrong -- and if you think differently, then you probably need to goto hell.

there seems no doubt about the crime...... he did it, even admitted it....

so the question is the penalty....

the penalty amount were set "BEFORE" the crime was committed......

so he did it, knew the potential output (or should have).....

I have 0% sympathy!

Do the crime, do the pre-described time...... that easy!

Anyone with IT knowledge can see that Gary McKinnon is lying in his BBC "Click" interview about how he "hacked" into military and government installations. He says he scanned for the IP's of PC's that had no password.

This is impossible. PC's in a network such as exists in every organisation have NO PUBLIC IP, only local addresses (like 192.168.0.50). Only the server has access to a public IP. And that WILL NOT EVEN INSTALL without first inputting a password. It is written in the installation code. You also cannot remove the password afterwards. Brevity forbids me from writing pages on the details. Just ask any IT Engineer.

The conclusion is: he is obviously a patsy. An outer "wannabe" member of a gang taking the rap for others and unwilling to give them up out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, a feeling of grandiosity and a Joan of Arc complex. This is obvious from the fact he was not even clued in enough to use a simple anonymous proxy and avoid detection.

Let me hack your british military and see if you would ask for an extradition?

OF COURSE YOU WOULD!!

Stop acting like an ignorant punk.

He did the crime and should pay for it.

If someone from here in the US did that to the UK I would gladly send him on a ups bag, first class.

Looking into someone system is a crime, it does not matter if you are here or in the UK.

the USA is not a civilised country, the way it treats its poor people and prisoners is simple proof of this fact. McKinnon should be kept in Britain for this reason alone.

See what a small tea party can do, turns an empire holding colonies around the world into a colony of its former colony in under 300 years.

Crime did happen and any decent nation should prosecute him for the crimes commited, but to extradite one's citizen to a foreign country (not even an international court) goes against the very principle of the nation state and puts you, well, in a "submissive state of mind" and declares you a colony. Sucks but its true.

Funky indeed.

I think he should share a cell with the person who was in charge of securing those systems. Then eventually get out and replace his cell mate :)

Hacking is a crime. No sense of trying to defend it cause you can't. McKinnon has admitted he hacked while looking for little green men... He's an asshole and he got caught. Now he's going to prison in the U.S. where the crimes were committed. End of story.

Whining over the conviction of a criminal is wasted energy and it won't change a thing. Phuck around and go to prison.

They're only doing this because he made them look stupid and the US Military cannot abide being made to look stupid.
So, an example must be made and justice and the truth can just go and get f**ked.

"if america polices the world, who polices america?"

The EU?

Well Gary has escaped justice for years but now perhaps he will get his just punishment. Not likely he'll get 66 years but if he does, I won't lose a minute of sleep over this criminal.

@declan .. we here in the states understand the IRA is really awesome and people we can identify with.

4mckinnon .. if you don't get stupid and plead guilty, you have a nice chance of getting the jury to let you off, just play the sympathy card. you can have all the evidence point against you and a jury here can still say your not guilty on grounds of being awesome.

us back a few convicted murderers that escaped from prisons in Northern Ireland so we can then release them under the peace agreement?
Na thought not! If justice isn't even handed its not justice.

So, why he wasn't tried and convicted in Britain? I understand why some banana republics cannot keep in own jails mighty drug lords, but if you can't deal yourself with (essentially) a case of public vandalism, what does it makes (once) Great Britain?

Oh, yeah.... c'mon little white boy, Big 'Un's waitin' for ya.

Uhm, what plantiff DOESN'T say this. A man gets murdered, does the family of the murdered say "Oh, we hope the he gets a fair trial and gest off lightly?" No, they chant and scream "Life without parole!"

Do not confuse the Executive branch with the Judicial branch, although it is an easy mistake seeing that Bush had a problem doing so. But these aren't judges screaming for this guy's head, it's the people whose systems were hax0red.

..is the fact the US authorities have repeatedly stated that they want him extradited to make an example out of him. I think that is at odds with the ideal of fair justice.

The point about this case is not related to hacking charges. We has admitted to the charges the question is that is crime was committed here so we should have is trial in the UK. His disease argument is only being used against the extradition. Furthermore we did not cause any damage in fact we might have exposed the weak security of US defense networks preventing a real attack.
What is astonishing about this case is how very few people have reacted to it, what we are seeing is the triumph of a Bush era politics over a UK citizenship human rights.

if america polices the world, who polices america?

Thank you high courts for proving what has been right all along. Finding a mental illness and using it as a crutch for everything in your life doesn't always work. This guy is an embarrassment to those who also suffer from Asperger's but yet live their lives in a responsible manner. If he can't control his hacking urges, he shouldn't have a computer, or at least one with Internet access.

It doesn't matter how easy it was, how poor the security was, etc. If someone breaks into your house to peep on you and your wife making love, the court doesn't care if you forgot to lock your door, it's still trespassing and breaking and entering.

I miss the good ol days when the INQ had proper writers and people who knew what they were talking about.