Gary Mckinnon: extradition decision today.

[Kizzy]

Home secretary Theresa May will announce her decision on whether computer hacker Gary McKinnon can be extradited to the United States by October 16, his lawyer Karen Todner said today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/blog/2012/sep/06/cameron-unveils-building-plans-politics-live

[lostalex]

From what i understand, he has commited the crimes he's accused of. I;ve never heard him or his mother or his lawyer claim that he didn't do this, only that he has asbergers syndrome.

You cannot use the excuse of mental illness (especially when that mental illness is only diagnosed AFTER he got caught) to justify crime.

Saying that it''s okay to hack into the pentagon because you are looking for evidence of UFO's, how is that an excuse?

He should face the consequences for what he did. Personally i don't think he should receive a harsh sentence, i think he should probably get a large fine and probation, but he still needs to face a court for his actions.

You cannot use the excuse of autism or asbergers. these are not "*******" people think it means he is mentally retarded or something, he's not, he knew exactly what he was doing. people with autism and asbergers are not like people with downs syndrome.

[Nedusa]

This case makes my blood boil on so many levels. first of all Gary McKinnon is not and never was a computer hacker in the normal sense of the word, he basically sat in front of his computer and typed in obvious default passwords in systems where default passwords were not updated.Due to his medical condition/Asperger's he continued to pursue this process almost continually for very long periods of time. As he finally got lucky he did gain access to some of the US defense networks on his quest for UFO evidence.

This was back in 2001/2002 and after being caught he admitted his guilt. So the American Govt demanded he be extradited to the US on the grounds he was a "terrorist" they probably would have put him in Guantanamo Bay if they could.

The current extradition treaty with the US is appallingly one sided and clearly unjust. It should only be used to bring back suspected criminals who commit crimes in the US and flee abroad to avoid arrest, not used to take a british subject who commits crimes in the UK to the US for trial.

Add to that his medical condition and the length of time this case has been running, I think Gary Mckinnon has suffered enough. As for our "special" relationship well thats basically a case of the US say bend over and we reply how far......!!!!!

[Nedusa]

Breaking News Home Secretary Theresa May says there is no doubt Mr McKinnon is seriously ill. She says she has carefully examined the medical evidence and taken legal advice and has concluded that his extradition would give such a high risk that he would end his life that it restricts his human rights.
1236: Breaking News BBC political correspondent James Landale says he understands that Daily Mail reports that the Home Secretary will block the extradition of Gary Mckinnon are correct.

Finally a bit of common sense from our Govt, finally it takes a woman to grow a pair and stand up to the US in this particular case.

Well done Theresa May the correct decision. Now a British Court can decide what punishment this man should receive. I hope the extradition law is amended so that these types of situation cannot arise again.

[arista]

Confirmed he will not go to the USA


Well Done Home Sec.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/16/article-2218387-1586BC3C000005DC-138_306x423.jpg


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2218387/EXCLUSIVE-Gary-McKinnon-saved-extradition-Theresa-May.html

[Livia]

While I do have sympathy with Gary McKinnon and his family, he did hack into the Pentagon. If he's as mentally incapable as his lawyer and his mother would have us believe, was it good judgement to allow him access to a computer without checking what he was doing? Did they think he was playing solitaire or something? I'm not sure that justice would be served by extraditing this man because I don't believe he would get a fair trial in the USA. However, he must face some sort of punishment for what he did or every geek and nerd in the world is going to claim some kind of mental illness as a precedent to get them off of a court case when they hack someone's computer.

[arista]

"he must face some sort of punishment"


Yes they are looking into that for the UK.

[MTVN]

Breaking News Home Secretary Theresa May says there is no doubt Mr McKinnon is seriously ill. She says she has carefully examined the medical evidence and taken legal advice and has concluded that his extradition would give such a high risk that he would end his life that it restricts his human rights.
1236: Breaking News BBC political correspondent James Landale says he understands that Daily Mail reports that the Home Secretary will block the extradition of Gary Mckinnon are correct.

Finally a bit of common sense from our Govt, finally it takes a woman to grow a pair and stand up to the US in this particular case.

Well done Theresa May the correct decision. Now a British Court can decide what punishment this man should receive. I hope the extradition law is amended so that these types of situation cannot arise again.

Great news

[Kizzy]

'It takes a woman' 'some kind of mental illness'

I really do worry sometimes.
Great verdict! justice prevails.

[joeysteele]

I am glad he is not going to be extradited to the USA, I am also both amazed and very pleased that Theresa May has done something right for once.

[Kizzy]

I am glad he is not going to be extradited to the USA, I am also both amazed and very pleased that Theresa May has done something right for once.

Haha! how right you are.

[thesheriff443]

i see mrs may, all the time,she shops in my local waitrose,
the us goverment dont want to punish him, they want to know how he beat there spy wear systems.

[joeysteele]

Haha! how right you are.

How this woman survives as being Home Secretary is beyond all belief,in my opinion, she doesn't just appear not to have a clue, she hasn't a clue.
She will surely go down as one the worst Home Secretary's ever.

[thesheriff443]

While I do have sympathy with Gary McKinnon and his family, he did hack into the Pentagon. If he's as mentally incapable as his lawyer and his mother would have us believe, was it good judgement to allow him access to a computer without checking what he was doing? Did they think he was playing solitaire or something? I'm not sure that justice would be served by extraditing this man because I don't believe he would get a fair trial in the USA. However, he must face some sort of punishment for what he did or every geek and nerd in the world is going to claim some kind of mental illness as a precedent to get them off of a court case when they hack someone's computer.

do you think its just him hacking into peoples accounts,
i know someone who has not long been offered a six figure contract to go to america and do the same as he did,
as to everyone claiming to have a mental illness to get away with hacking that wont work beacuse they can be tested to see if they have real problem or not.
he is 46 so he is allowed some freedom most men would only be looking at porn!

[Shaun]

poor man's Lisbeth Salander

[arista]

http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2012/10/16/198500/default/v1/i-front-page-1-329x437.jpg

http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2012/10/16/198514/default/v1/the-guardian-front-page-1-329x437.jpg

[Livia]

do you think its just him hacking into peoples accounts,
i know someone who has not long been offered a six figure contract to go to america and do the same as he did,
as to everyone claiming to have a mental illness to get away with hacking that wont work beacuse they can be tested to see if they have real problem or not.
he is 46 so he is allowed some freedom most men would only be looking at porn!

No... obviously I don't think it's just him hacking into people's accounts. But he hacked into the Pentagon. You can see the seriousness of that, surely. Someone being paid to do what he did and someone sitting in their bedroom in their Mum's house doing it are two different things.

[thesheriff443]

No... obviously I don't think it's just him hacking into people's accounts. But he hacked into the Pentagon. You can see the seriousness of that, surely. Someone being paid to do what he did and someone sitting in their bedroom in their Mum's house doing it are two different things.

i dont see it as serious beacuse he was not doing it for criminal gain or to get the launch codes for missiles,but wanted to find proof of ufo's
people that are getting paid to hack into accounts are doing to gain imformation that can be used for criminal gain or bring someone down in the political world,

[Livia]

i dont see it as serious beacuse he was not doing it for criminal gain or to get the launch codes for missiles,but wanted to find proof of ufo's
people that are getting paid to hack into accounts are doing to gain imformation that can be used for criminal gain or bring someone down in the political world,

So he says, yes. Who knows what he was doing. And I don't recall saying that people hacking into accounts as a criminal or political activity wasn't wrong.

[thesheriff443]

So he says, yes. Who knows what he was doing. And I don't recall saying that people hacking into accounts as a criminal or political activity wasn't wrong.

im sorry if i made it sound like you agreed with hacking as you have mentioned above.lol.
he was good but not great otherwise he would not have got traced!,
the us, have kicked up a stink about this but they dont want justice they want answers.

[Livia]

im sorry if i made it sound like you agreed with hacking as you have mentioned above.lol.
he was good but not great otherwise he would not have got traced!,
the us, have kicked up a stink about this but they dont want justice they want answers.

They probably want to employ him...

[thesheriff443]

They probably want to employ him...

very true.

[Kizzy]

What could they ask him there that they couldn't ask him here?
At least he proved it could be done..If you look at it that way the guy's a hero...
Anyone else and it could have been catastrophic?

[Kizzy]

very true.

Yes, they have spent 10yrs trying to convince him to come to America for a job interview..
Bahahahaha.

[thesheriff443]

What could they ask him there that they couldn't ask him here?
At least he proved it could be done..If you look at it that way the guy's a hero...
Anyone else and it could have been catastrophic?

knowlege is power!
if he can hack into them, can he hack into others, how did he do beat their systems,
he has a talent like my friend thats why the pay is so good but in the wrong country it comes with big risks,

[lostalex]

All of those saying this is just some autistic man looking for UFO's... he caused over $500,000 in damage and this is just one of the messages he left on one of the computers he hacked into... (tell me if this sounds like just an autistic man looking for UFOS)

this is one of many messages he left on government computers...

"US foreign policy is akin to Government-sponsored terrorism these days … It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year … I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels …"

SOLO was his hacker name. Tell me how that sounds like some innocent childlike autistic person just looking for UFO's. TO me it's clear he was intending to do harm to the US government, not just fish for UFO's, he even makes a threat at the end that he will continue to do it.

How anyone doesn't see how this is a crime against the US, I don't understand.