IN WHAT MUST BE bad news for Gary McKinnon's defence team a US court has dismissed Asperger's syndrome as a hacking defence and thrown the book at Albert Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, 28, made millions hacking into major US retailers. Before that he was acting as an informant for the US Secret Service and turned rogue on his employers.
However Gonzalez blamed the fact he stole millions of consumers' account details on his Asperger's syndrome and the fact he was addicted to the world wide web.
The court didn't think these were viable excuses and sentenced him to 20 years porridge, which breaks all records for harsh sentences imposed on hackers in US courts.
Under his plea agreement, Gonzalez had faced up to 25 years in prison, but asked the judge for leniency in sentencing, saying he had been addicted to computers since childhood, had abused alcohol and illegal drugs for years and suffered from symptoms of Asperger's disorder, a form of autism.
Gonzalez, who had buried $1 million cash in the backyard of his parents' home, said that his crimes got out of control "because of my inability to stop my pursuit of curiosity and addiction."
Prosecutors wanted a stiff sentence to send a message that the US government takes computer crimes seriously.
Gonzalez's prison term could be extended as another judge will sentence him today on a second set of similar charges, to which he has also pleaded guilty.
McKinnon claims that his cracking into US defence networks was due to his Asperger's syndrome and he is fighting extradition from Britain on that basis. µ
In the land of the free you can murder someone,rape their children and get off because your coffee was to hot but hack a lame security system and get 20 years dam am I happy I live in Canada the land of the truly free!!Oh and PS homeland security can kiss my butt I'll never trade my freedom to fear mongers!!!
how long until we see uncle sam's citizens working the chinese paddy fields for peanuts while the natives live in technological luxury?
prepare to serve, bi-atch!
hahaha
20 years for hacking? Jesus Christ! What the hell, it was convicted for genocide or what???
To be fair, your government borrows all of its resources.
The UK should thank China for loaning your bankrupt asses the money to get the nutty NASA hacker who really only wanted to see if aliens had landed.
As for the theif; 20 years. It's laughable. When it comes to money or drugs, the time goes up by orders of magnitude in the land of the free.
Kill someone? single digit years, parole, or acquitted. Rob them of a few mill? BURN AT THE STAKE!!!
I was surprised Madoff wasn't executed under some perverted treason clause or the Patriot Act.
PS: Welcome to the first world! - with the passing of the healthcare bill, you might just have a chance to live like the rest of the west has for decades for a while.
That is until the Chinese dump your dollars and destroy what's left of your economy.
Enjoy :)
If my "rogue government" is putting away thieves like that hacker, good riddance. It's just a shame he wasn't executed either. Hell, the UK should thank us for spending OUR resources on that Gary hacking chump too.
...is in prison for at least 30 years. Dead would be better, but 30+ years is a good start, including McKinnon the fraudster. The bleeding hearts are gonna look like fools when they find out he doesn't have Aspergers. Even if he did that doesn't excuse criminal acts. Time all of these dudes end up in the Iron Bar Hotel for a long, long time.
If you have as much faith in the British gov't as you have distrust of us yanks and our got't, shurely you believe he won't be extradited. If he's extradited, you can blame your own gov't.
Grow some stones, Brits. You could have politely told the US 'No thanks, we'll be keeping him here, thanks' months ago and been done with it.
thanks for your response to my post. heres mine:
yanks dont have a constituional right to kidnap people at gunpoint and threaten to shoot them!
the constitutional right is to bear arms to protect against a rogue government - when are they going to use this right? its obvious to the rest of the world that political processes have been breached (e.g. Bush cheats his way in to office, illegal wars etc) not to mention the faceless puppeteers in the background having too much sway.
perhaps they are too 'dumb' to realise?
@mog Read the article again, note that there are 2 characters mentioned, one the guy who got 20y who's a lame opportunist with slack morals, the other the british guy who still has to see his day in court and who's definitively a bit nutty and hacked to find evidence of aliens having landed.
The only links are 1) that the opportunist guy stole the other guy's defense, even though in his case it's obviously BS and 2) the US screwed up scary 'justice' system.
it's his own fault for entering a plea deal. he should have gone with the jury. i know more than a few people who've sworn to jury vote "not guilty" because of the evil patriot act forced down the common citizens throat. in this day, it's the government who is the enemy. ... to big al firearm crimes?? i didn't know there was such a thing seeings firearms are protected as a constitutional right. You sound like your from that fascist country New Yuck.
youre forgetting its american justice here. that basicaly means they can do what the hell they like.
no-one can predict american justice - the OJ Simpson case a typical high-profile example that springs to mind. he got found not guilty by law court but guilty by civil court?! then he goes on to commit further violent and firearm crimes!
its a madhouse
I'm no defender of Gary (in fact, I can't wait for him to get his date in court), but let's be honest, these were two different situations entirely. This guy stole millions of dollars, Gary did not.
Would you expect the same punishment for someone who broke into a bank, cracked the safe, and ran off with a load of cash, vs someone who broke in and took a few photos of the urinal? No, probably not. Gary won't get 20 years, he'll get 5 or so.