Boris hassles Obama over McKinnon

Despite all the flack poor Boris gets, he seems to be the only sane even handed sensible politician there is these days...
he's kust not ordinary and thats ok with me.

Boris seems to be the only politician with any bottle to stand up and say what he thinks!

if I was a chick I'd wanna have his kids. To think that this insane little island has FINALLY produced a politician who is not completely psycho (a bit mad but not nuts) has really made my 12 years I've been shipwrecked here. BRAVO BORIS!!!! go tell those wacks to stick their noses up someones arses and see what they smell... to them its Chanel No5

There is no "plight" involved. They guy committed a crime, *knew* what he was doing, did it anyway, and now they're going to try him for it.

WOoooooooooooooooooooooo it's the Birmingham Six all over again.

This is a tech news site. What exactly the **** does this have to do with tech news? All the constant whinging that "The americans just want to make an example of him, he's not that bad"? Err.. Duh. That's the point of a public trial, isn't it? Making an example of people that break the law and proving that they'll be punished. For god's sake stop wasting bandwith with this tripe.

I don't know you Boris but I like you already.

@ some bloke

The purpose of a trial is to weigh up the evidence at hand and to decide if a person is guilty or not within reasonable doubt. Not to "Make an example of them".

The punishment is a far cry from the crime, the US has said before its just seeking to make an example of him and has clearly already decided on his guilt, sorry if i cant trust the nation behind gitmo on fair trials and human rights.

Also, boris is quite clearly awesome.

well said Boris.

The next time an American Hacker hacks into the British Government, I don't want to hear "shit" from all British.

A significant portion of the rule of law we have today here in America came from the British. We have laws, and we have consequences for breaking these laws. You do the crime, you do the time...... very simple.

Your UFO chaser appears to be guilty as hell, and only remorseful AFTER he gets caught! He may be a nutt, but he is not insane, therefore he gets what he gets!

If I as an American citizen hacked into US Gov. computers, I would be prosecuted! The fact that this dumbass is British has nothing to do with the case! I would also add, that George Bush had nothing to do with this case!

This guy knew what he was doing was illegal! If found guilty, he should be jailed! Then the next time some dumbass bloke comes along with thoughts of doing the same thing, maybe he will think twice! If you let this guy off, then the next dumbass will think he can get away with it too!

Very simple..... Law.... break law.... get punished! That is civilization! If I hacked into British Gov. computers, and was caught, I would expect to face charges in Britain, and go to jail if found guilty!

So stop blaming America, stop blaming Bush, and lay some blame on the person who broke the law!

All of this is premature. McKinnon has not stood trial or been sentenced, he has simply been charged to stand trial. Alot of the comments I read about this seem to miss that point. In trial he will probably be found not guilty of the serious charges and in sentencing he will probably receive probation or a minimal sentence, the US is known for being harsh in sentencing of violent or repeat offenders, not first time non-violent offenders. The time to be outraged and ask for a pardon or government intervention is after the trial and sentencing has taken place, not before. Give the courts a chance, US judges are not mindless monsters.

Some typical liberal posts here. yeah, close Gitmo and drink tea with your enemy instead, pussies. I say close Gitmo too after we execute all of them then afterword take no prisoners if you know what I mean. Get medieval on there asses, that's all those rag-heads understand.

With the huge support McKinnon has, it would not be difficult to beat the American System. He just needs to pay the judge more than his accusers. Wait, I guess he has no chance. I forgot he would have to use the same paper his accuser prints in his basement.

Yet another article written by someone else regurgitated (when it suits his leftist agenda) by so-called hack Farrell. Surprise us, Nick - How about some real IT reporting?

This is not some movie or suspense novel. Both the most rabid supporter of 'throw away the key' mentality as well as 'lets all just get along' mentality would not hesitate to throw out and redo any case that hinted of a corrupt judge. I can understand the perception that rich defendants get lesser sentences than poor defendants, but this is because the expensive defense lawyers have the experience and resources to present stronger cases not because of any corruption or payoff to judges.

since we are throwing the hate for america out there....

maybe you fish and chips, bad teeth, smelly bastards dont understand. Its not if hes sane or what he was doing in the nations system. Its the fact that the guy hacked a national system. If folks over here started hacking your countries nation computer system you might have a bit to say about that. It wouldnt matter if it was UFO's or nuke information. Its you broke the damn law and you have to pay up.

We here in the US believe that EVERYONE should face the justice if the law is broken. No it doesnt happen all the time (Im looking at you Bush), but it should. I saw let the guy stand trial and serve time/pay fines for the crime committed and once thats done the slate is clean again. If what he did wasnt so bad then the time/fines will reflect that, but he should have to stand trial.

I allowed other terrorist to go free, why not a hacker like McKinnon?

I'll have my people call your people to work out the details. We're having a little tea social for the terrorists in the oval office. Maybe Gary would like to attend?

McKinnon is obviously not a terrorist. He is a confessed criminal. He will obviously be found not guilty of terrorism charges, but he will probably be found guilty of criminal charges since he confessed.

Nice to see the cream of US society, racists and bigots amongst them, squawk out their tired "do the crime, do the time" rhetoric, with their only cultural reference points being tea-drinking and presumably the fake cockney of "Mary Poipins". Michael Moore said enough about the injustices of the US with regard to crime and punishment, but I guess it was more fashionable to shout such "liberals" down than to see beyond the wire fence of the trailer park.

Like in Britain, making scary examples of small-time offenders plays well with the simpletons squealing that "justice must be served", especially when it diverts the small minds of such simpletons away from the real injustices and the real criminals.

Nobody is denying that McKinnon broke into US military computers. Granted the US military should do a better job of protecting its computers against hacking. But bottom line, it is against US law to break into computers, and why shouldn't the US government ask the British government for McKinnon to be extradited to face trial?

But we have all these people wanting to make special exception for variety of reasons, none of which have any validity.

I wonder if any of these people would be so determined to protect McKinnon if he had broken into their computers and accessed personal info, like, oh, I dunno, pictures of themselves posing in women's undergarments? I think even Boor-ish, the Lard Mayo of London wouldn't care much for that.

And as an American citizen, I am deeply offended that you sissy limp-wristed Euro-peons think that we run kangaroo courts here in the U.S.A. Another example of overlooking the log in one's own eye to comment on the speck in another's. Clean up your own act first, please.

The point about McKinnon is not that he should not face trail for what he did, clearly he should, but that he should not face trial on political charges for things he did not do.

The idea of cyber terrorism stretches credulity but if we accept that it is possible it is still clear that Mckinnon did not commit a terriorist act.

The supposed damage caused is also beyond the bounds of reasonableness. If government computers were accessable from th einternet with no authentication then as soon as this was discovered they would have to be checked and reconfigured. This is true whether or not McKinnon had cessed teh computer. The additional cost is nill or near nill.

Britain should not extradite someone who is facing clearly false, politically motivated charges based on fabricated evidence (the supposed damage).

If the US charges him with something reasonable like unauthorised use of a computer, fair enough although it hardly seems worth extradition.

The US would not extradite genuine terrorists to Britain and still refuses to extradite terrorists who admit to bombing passenger aircraft to Cuba so I see no problem in Britain refusing to extradite someone who logged onto a goverment computer that had no password set.

I agree Britain should not extradite anyone who is facing "clearly false, politically motivated charges based on fabricated evidence", however the British government has determined, in previous extradition hearings, that is not what is happening in this case. Some of the charges seem excessive, but that is irrelevant because the lesser, more reasonable, charges are enough for extradition. A trial is meant to find fact so it doesn't matter if he is charged with a million things he is innocent of because that will come out in the trial. By definition, people found to be innocent were all charged with crimes they didn't commit.

Where is your compassion and understanding and measured response?

USA has more guns than people, 15,000 gun shot attacks every year, more people in prison than any other country in the world, etc.

McKinnnon "hacked" unsecure computers, wrote some stuff up on the screen "American foreign policy is akin to state terrorism", he does have a point. He looked for info on UFO's.

I hope Obama has more sense than "my brother cheattingly gave me the election" Bush.

I hear Jed Bush is going to run for US President, lol, and I bet loads of USA-ians will vote for him too.

In terms of the law compassion, understanding and measured response are part of the judge's (judiciary/court) responsibilities. Defendants are presumed to be innocent. The judge is expected to demonstrate these qualities (as much as allowed by law), in the support of justice, during the trial and sentencing.

Why not concentrate on the real criminals.
Sorry, they have money and lawyers.
Well all the UFO people should be extradicted to the US where they belong anyway. But where is the salt of a nation that exradicts people like McKinnon to a country like the USBusch.

I still don't understand how every single person seemingly in the UK all of a sudden becomes interested in Gary McKinnon when he "conveniently" is diagnosed while trying to escape lawful sentencing in the US. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, he did break the law in this country and is subject to it. Also, it's convenient he states he was "looking for UFO's" when he was defacing website with some pretty interesting rhetoric.

Funny how the UK is so gentle toward people who are mentally different after what you folks did to Alan Turing. Amazing how you preach how cruel the US is in light of that. Bloody hypocrites!

Yet another example of the idiotic expectations foreign leaders and people have of Obama. You've got people expecting that Obama is going to save them from their problems, and go soft on all the "down and out" people of the world. Get a clue. Obama isn't an amateur in politics. He knows that if he even dignifies Boris's plea with a response, he *must* take a neutral stand or lose support from someone by taking a side. Obama will merely say that he has the full confidence in the courts to make the right decision, so he'll look good while having no responsibility in the matter.

I think it's unfair to call him a crank. Surely the reason the US military want to prosecute him is because he got near the truth and that is why the British government are so keen to see him prosecuted.

If you remember the story, he didn't find the ufo evidence he was looking for. What he found was ships names and crew names of the U.S.'s off world navy.

The way they are still after him shows it just might be true.

Anyone seen any large black triangles in the sky?

I'm a US citizen. Our government just has a wounded sense of pride, is all. A total nutjob managed to break his way in. What does that say about our security?

Let him go. And then keep him busy by convincing him that Iran and North Korea have alien technology far in advance of our own.

Mate, what if someone broke into your house and read some information that was considered confidential? Then, the person in question continues to constantly break into your home reading information that is considered "private". The person is commenting a crime. This is what McKinnon did repeatedly and he knew it was wrong. I think the person should be tried in either US or UK court of law. Calling Americans idiots only shows that your insecure about yourself. In addition it shows what kind of small person you really are.