NASA hacker pleads to Bush for pardon
Summary
Gary McKinnon has appealed to the out-going president Geroge Bush to grant him a pardon for accessing 73,000 US military computers and allegedly destroying files.
Topics
Self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon is appealing to outgoing president George W Bush to halt McKinnon's extradition from Britain to the United States.
McKinnon's legal team has requested that UK foreign secretary David Miliband press for a pardon from Bush, McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner announced at a press conference on Thursday. "We have asked David Miliband to seek consent to ask for a pardon," said Todner.
The solicitor added that McKinnon's defense team had already applied for a pardon from Bush, but had been rejected on the grounds that McKinnon was not a US citizen.
McKinnon is also hopeful that president-elect Barack Obama will drop the extradition after his inauguration on Tuesday 20 January. "A lot of us have looked at Obama as a new hope," McKinnon told the press conference in London.
The U.S. government has accused McKinnon of "the biggest military hack of all time". U.S. prosecutors claim that between 2001 and 2002, McKinnon accessed over 73,000 army, navy, air force and NASA computers, causing $700,000 (£430,000) damage by deleting files.
McKinnon has admitted hacking US military systems, but denies causing damage. He claims he was initially searching for data about UFOs, and also found evidence of anti-gravity projects.
The appeal to Bush coincides with an attempt by McKinnon to halt his extradition by pleading guilty to UK computer offenses. Todner sent a confession signed by McKinnon to director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer on December 23. In the confession letter McKinnon gave assurances that he would plead guilty to offenses under section 2 of the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) in an attempt to secure a UK jail term. Section 2 of the CMA deals with "unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offenses."
McKinnon told ZDNet UK on Thursday he was hopeful Starmer would agree to prosecute in the UK.
"[The confession] makes [Starmer's] job easier," said McKinnon. "It gives him a home run."
Starmer will reach a decision within four weeks, Todner told ZDNet UK on Thursday.
In addition, on Tuesday January 20 the High Court will hear oral evidence from McKinnon's legal team. McKinnon's defense contend that McKinnon's diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome in the summer was not taken into account by the home secretary Jacqui Smith when she rejected McKinnon's second appeal against extradition in October.
Talkback Most Recent of 20 Talkback(s)
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I have very little sympathy
For a guy who commited a crime and then fights extradition because he knows he will be treated better in Britian. He knew he was commiting a crime against the US in a time of war but he did it anyways, he did those actions now he should face the consequences of said actions. Thats really all there is to it, I would completely lose faith in either Bush or Obama if he let a known cyber-terrorist off the hook.
NoThomas16th Jan 2009 -
cyber-terrorist?
Cyber-terrorist? Are you retarded? How is he, by ANY definition, a terrorist?
blackberrylaw17th Jan 2009 -
Narcissism
He's a terrorist like any other petty hacker intending on causing damage for their selfish interest; however, benign it seems.
They ignore the cost society pays for their offenses, billions of dollars, attempting to prevent, react to, or prosecute, when billions of people are living in poverty. Like many other things, it charges an enormous toll on society and is inexcusable.
Any small group or an individual can take advantage of an opportunity, whether or it is a peeping tom, a petty hacker, hezbollah, the IRA, at the expense of the majority of the world's inhabitants.
Revolution starts when a group of people use reason to find a peaceful resolution to their problem. Hackers are not revolutionaries helping shape a better world. They are odd ducks, following their own whims, for voyeuerism, self-gain, or a petty need to have some odd sort of power. There is honor among thieves. They don't disallusion themselves with thinking they have any noble purpose. Hackers think they are either inconsequential, revolutionary, or just devilishly malicious.
Like terrorists that have lost sight of their original intent, change, substituting only rage and violence, so have these petty hackers, who have simply substituted malice for any illusion they might have given themselves that they were performing a good or even inconsequential action.
concernedcomputeruser18th Jan 2009 -
Russia, China, Germany, North Korea all terrorists?
The guy didn't actually cause damage, nor did he have intent to cause damage. It's like looking at a couple have sex through an open window - the system was not secured, anyone could access it. McKinnon even stated that he saw North Korean, Russian, and Chinese IP adreses from .gov and .mil domains connect to the system. So all those countries aren't "terrorists" and he is??? Tells me something about the legal system...
Anonymous Benefactor18th Jan 2009 -
Well lets see
"The U.S. government has accused McKinnon of "the biggest military hack of all time". U.S. prosecutors claim that between 2001 and 2002, McKinnon accessed over 73,000 army, navy, air force and NASA computers, causing $700,000 (?430,000) damage by deleting files."
He deleted files causing $700,000 in damage. That in itself one can say is a cyber-terrorist. He caused damage to US Gov't property, whether accidental or intentional.
"McKinnon has admitted hacking US military systems, but denies causing damage. He claims he was initially searching for data about UFOs, and also found evidence of anti-gravity projects."
Here you can say that he got classified military information and told people, so he got our secrets and is telling whoever will listen. Maybe you are right maybe I used the wrong word, lets see what fits better? hmm.. Spy?NoThomas20th Jan 2009 -
NOT Terrorism
To anyone who misuses the word terrorist on this thread - there is no evidence that McKinnon was intending to achieve any aims through spreading terror. Thus usage of that term in this thread is imbecilic, unless you identify how McKinnon intended to spread terror. Your misuse of the term is contributing to its loss of meaning, and, it could be argued (though not by me) that this will directly lead to the US failing to win the "war on terror" (which is an even worse use of the "terror" thing). After all if (admittedly illegal) hacking is terror, then it will never be over as long as there are teenage boys!
muchado19th Jan 2009 -
well lets see..
"To anyone who misuses the word terrorist on this thread - there is no evidence that McKinnon was intending to achieve any aims through spreading terror." He deleted the US Gov't files to achieve his own goals of getting information, he then gave information about military projects. Maybe terrorist is a bit extreme how about spy?NoThomas20th Jan 2009 -
Why on earth does the *hacker* get punished?
It seems to me that during this discussion the focus is on the wrong guy. This "do the crime, do the time" mantra is really beyond comprehension for me.
If someone breaks into my network and erases data, my customer/boss will put me, as a sysadmin, on fire. Why the hell did I allow it to happen in the first place?
I think the real culprits may be:
- the OS/webserver/whatever producer
- the sysadmins who did a poor job at defending the network
- the managers who did a poor job at running the organization
Punishing this easy-to-catch guy is pointless. NASA should actually send him a thank-you note saying: Thank you for deleting that sensitive data so that the really bad guys cannot read it any more.
Do you think "justice" is going to be applied to Chinese spies that could all to well view this data from their well-protected military compounds?
Applying justice only to the people who are not yourself and whom you can easily catch is morally unsound. And here, the real culprit is really within NASA.
Grumpy0721st Jan 2009 -
RE: NASA hacker pleads to Bush for pardon
Lock him up and throw away the key.
wkulecz16th Jan 2009 -
Do the crime, do the time
He broke the law, he should do the time. It is just that simple.
He knew what he was doing was illegal, but kept doing it until getting caught. Now he should accept the consequences of his actions.
wackoae16th Jan 2009 -
Do the crime do the time
So did President Bush The Govt doesnt do anything about his crimes,he just walks away.How many times does Govt commit crimes Look at the economy and thier stupid Wars war is a crimenot to mention other things they do.Lieing to the people about ET is a MaJor Crime and the way they threaten and harras thier own employees not to tell the truth I cant believe how much B.S this country puts up with
rcknason18th Jan 2009 -
RE: NASA hacker pleads to Bush for pardon
If he is capable of accessing such files they should be interested in employing him. Personally, I see him as a bit of a hero and can't blame him for being interested.. 'anti-gravity'? I'm obviously not absolving him of guilt - just can see how addictive it could become if you managed to get in once and actually found something mind-blowingly interesting!
Anyway, perhaps a bad idea to put him into prison - he might make the wrong kind of contacts!
No, I'm being facetious - I agree with the other comments, just making a stand for the other side of the coin.
Maybe better for him to have an equivalent UK punishment so as to easily be able to be visited by his family and loved ones. Just a thought..
I am surprised he deleted files, however perhaps they did that to stop him from reading them.
praines16th Jan 2009 -
A little perspective
I know what he did was wrong, but no one was hurt and to put him away for 70 years with the likelyhood that his human rights will not be granted would not be justice.
At least if he is punished in Britain he will do a fair amount of time for the crime. Not something ridiculous. Obviously he will be treated better, but justice is fair compared to Guantanamo Bay.
amara01emerson@...16th Jan 2009 -
to go from a felony to misdemeanor
Its a felony here and a misdemeanor there of course he wants to be tried there. He should of thought about his family while he was commiting the crime, now all of a sudden he does and how bad we are for asking for justice because it will take him away from his family? Your really making that argument? Really?NoThomas20th Jan 2009 -
RE: NASA hacker pleads to Bush for pardon
This is an absolute joke. According to McKinnon, he gained admin status on the computers via modems which weren't supposed to be connected, and lazy administrators who left the default passwords on. He then looked at satellite pictures of NASA which were unprocessed. He got caught, end of story. How can looking at sat pictures cause over a million dollars in damage??? At most, the cost of patching the systems to prevent him and others from intruding again is about the administrators salary for a months worth of work, far less than the cost of him "destroying" every machine he logged on to.
This is a clear case of government extortion - someone is attempting to make McKinon pay for the obvious security upgrades which involved destroying the old system. Thus the claim that "he destroyed every machine he logged on to". Since he is UK citizen, it makes him an easy target - if it were a US citizen, there would be outrage.Anonymous Benefactor17th Jan 2009
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