Mr. McKinnon is charged with hacking into US defence systems, something which he admits but he claims he was looking for evidence of aliens and UFOs and wasn't there for any other reason. he's now spent 10 years trying, successfully so far, to not be extradited to the USA to face trial.
Since being charged he has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, part of the autistic spectrum, and this has been at the heart of his defence and is regularly referred to by his vociferous support team who, online, often come across more as a baying mob than a reasoned and intelligent group arguing a point of law.
The US authorities claim that not only did McKinnon hack into the systems, he damaged systems, switched off defences and left insulting and xenophobic messages in various places.
McKinnon's defenders, and especially his mother who is the chief spokesperson for his "team", claim that the damage is a lie and that his behaviour, a fixation on finding information beyond what most people would do, is as a result of his Asperger's.
A growing number of those with Asperger's find the McKinnon defence insulting. They say that they know the difference between right and wrong and don't want the syndrome to be used as an excuse for criminal activity.
Then his "team", go on about the evils of the US legal system, how awful prisons in the US are and that the extradition treaty between the US and the UK is unbalanced and unfair. these are, of course, red herrings but, sadly, red herrings that the Little Englander media lap up and, consequentially, this self-confessed criminal gets much more support than might have been expected. Quite how his campaign is taken seriously, when it is founded on so much blatant, and unpleasant, xenophobia and anti-Americanism, is beyond me.
The McKinnon "team" also go on about how awful it is that his maximum penalty could be 70 years or more in jail. On closer examination this isn't true. As with many of the McKinnon "team"'s claims this is a gross exaggeration but, hey, if it were the case maybe he shouldn't have committed the crime in the first place.
They also claim that he was in the UK when he did his crime, so should be tried in the UK. Again, another red herring. The crime, the actual hack, took place in the US, via the Internet, and so it s perfect toy reasonable that he is tried in the USA.
And that is the point, he is avoiding being tried. It's more than likely that, if medical assessment aupport his claims to have Asperger's (of which he was only diagnosed after he had been charged and which many claim looks rather "convenient"), the court will take this not consideration, but why should he be able to avoid trial?
It's time for this to be sorted;It's time for McKinnon to face court; and there is no sensible reason for that day in court not to be in the USA.
He's admitted the crime, though claims exaggeration by the US authorities about damage caused, I hope this is resolved soon and, when found guilty, he is left to rot in a US jail for as long as possible.
Good post.
ReplyDeletePeople need to know that he admitted to deleting military files and posting hateful messages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/01/gary-mckinnon-extradition-nightmare
He also has been repeatedly told that the maximum sentence he would receive would be light, 18 months to 3 years in a minimum security jail. 70 years is just plain hogwash.
Read that article, it's all in his own words and he even admits that getting caught was good for him as he had some serious problems with hacking.
Can't do the time, don't do the crime.