Gary McKinnon faces life sentence for hacking into Pentagon

[Lt-DavidW]

When he wakes up on Sunday morning, Gary McKinnon will be 72 hours from learning whether he is on the fast track to a 60-year prison sentence, thanks to his obsession with aliens.

McKinnon (42) from Enfield in north London, is accused by American prosecutors of illegally accessing top-secret computer systems in what they claimed in one legal document was "the biggest military computer hack of all time".

The self-taught IT expert insists he was simply looking for information the US government had on UFOs and is adamant that he never damaged any of its computer systems. This argument, however, cuts little ice with the Americans, who are trying to extradite him. Five years after being told by British police that he would probably get a six-month community service order for his exploits, McKinnon finds himself still wanted by the US authorities. A 2006 High Court ruling granted the extradition request, and on Wednesday the House of Lords will decide on McKinnon's appeal against that ruling.

That it should come to this is little short of outrageous, say his supporters. Soon after he was arrested in 2002, US prosecutors appeared to offer McKinnon a deal: if he agreed to extradition and admitted his guilt, he would get a sentence of three to four years, most of which could be served in the UK. When McKinnon rejected the offer -- made in confidential meetings at the US embassy -- his lawyers were told "all bets were off". They claim the US prosecutors upped the stakes, suggesting he would be "treated like a terrorist" if he did not agree to face trial and plead guilty in the US.

McKinnon claims that at one stage there were suggestions that he would face a military tribunal, possibly at Guant?namo Bay. "They said they wanted to see me fry," he said.

McKinnon's lawyers claim that attempts to force him to accept a plea bargain constituted "an unlawful abuse of the court process".

A Lords ruling in favour of McKinnon, who has become a cause c?l?bre for UFO enthusiasts, computer users and civil liberties groups, would force US prosecutors to restart their extradition process in the magistrates' courts, a major setback that could have ramifications for other Britons resisting removal to the US. A ruling against him would mean an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and leave him in legal limbo, banned from travelling abroad, forced to report to police every Friday, and barred from accessing the internet.

In a further twist, it has emerged that a crucial file containing details of the early meetings with the US prosecutors, at which the offers were apparently made, has gone missing from the office of McKinnon's solicitor. A laptop holding details of the same meetings was stolen from the car of one of his barristers.

The revelations have prompted febrile speculation among McKinnon's supporters, who fear that events have taken a sinister turn. McKinnon believes his phone has been bugged and claims to have been followed. As a result of his exploits, no IT company will now offer McKinnon a job. "I think it's bloody ridiculous," he said. "They should employ me to bust paedophile rings or credit card frauds rather than stick me in jail for the rest of my life."

These days he earns a living driving a fork-lift truck. It seems a mundane job for a man who between 1999 and 2002 broke into the most secure computer systems in the world from his north London flat. Using a computer language called Perl and a cheap PC, McKinnon linked a number of computer systems to search for US databases that were not protected by a password. "I could scan 65 000 machines in less than nine minutes," McKinnon said.

McKinnon unearthed unprotected computer systems operated by the US army, the navy, the Pentagon and Nasa. On every system he hacked, he left messages. "It was frightening because they had little or no security," he said. "I was always leaving messages on the desktop saying, 'your security is really crap'."

One message has come back to haunt him. "I said US foreign policy was akin to government-sponsored terrorism and I believed 9/11 was an inside job. It was a political diatribe," he admitted.

In the end, the ease with which he could hack the systems became his undoing. "I got sloppy. I went to places directly rather than jump through systems. Nasa tracked back my IP address."

McKinnon's interest in aliens was started by an internet-based group of UFO enthusiasts called The Disclosure Project. The group had collected more than 200 testimonies -- some from people who have served in the US military -- that "confirm" that extra-terrestrials exist. Not only that but, according to McKinnon, some of the testimonies offered proof that "certain parts of Western intelligence had acquired and reverse-engineered their technology, mainly weaponry and free energy".

Intrigued, McKinnon used the testimonies to help him search top-secret US databases for information about free energy. "I felt if it existed it should be publicly available," he said. He says he came across many other hackers in the supposedly secure systems, many with Chinese and Russian internet addresses. Since his exploits were exposed, consecutive government reports have confirmed that the US military's computer systems remain poorly protected.

McKinnon was caught before he could find any confidential information on "free energy", but he saw enough to believe the US authorities are suppressing what they know about aliens. He says he came across a document written by a Nasa official who claimed the agency has to airbrush UFOs out of satellite photos because "there are so many of them".

With only a 56k modem, he found that downloading the huge volume of documents was too time-consuming. But McKinnon claims that he managed to capture almost two-thirds of an image of what he believes was either a UFO or a top-secret US craft operating in space.

The picture was confiscated, along with all the other material McKinnon downloaded. The material included an Excel spreadsheet entitled "non-terrestrial officers" and a list of names. "It was a really weird phrase," McKinnon said. "Maybe it was the secret development of a space force. Space is the next frontier and it's already being weaponised."

His hacking career came to an abrupt end one morning in March 2002. The National High Tech Crime Unit searched his flat and arrested McKinnon and his then girlfriend. "They said 'you'll probably get six months' community service'," McKinnon claimed.

In the end the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute, but two years later, after crime unit officials visited Washington, apparently taking McKinnon's hard drive, the US government began extradition proceedings. "Now I'm facing 60 years in prison," McKinnon said. "I believe my case is being treated so seriously because they're scared of what I've seen. I'm living in a surreal, nutter's film."

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

[Stonkwell Bogtrotter]

"McKinnon unearthed unprotected computer systems operated by the US army, the navy, the Pentagon and Nasa."

The bloke should be given a medal for exposing the weakness the American computer IT system.

[James123]

These days he earns a living driving a fork-lift truck. It seems a mundane job for a man who between 1999 and 2002 broke into the most secure computer systems in the world from his north London flat. Using a computer language called Perl and a cheap PC, McKinnon linked a number of computer systems to search for US databases that were not protected by a password. "I could scan 65 000 machines in less than nine minutes," McKinnon said.

McKinnon unearthed unprotected computer systems operated by the US army, the navy, the Pentagon and Nasa. On every system he hacked, he left messages. "It was frightening because they had little or no security," he said. "I was always leaving messages on the desktop saying, 'your security is really crap'."

If they weren't even protected by a password, how can they be the "most secure computer systems in the world"? Is it even illegal to log-on to a computer without a password? At the very worst he should be getting tried here in the UK definitely not extradited to the US where he won't even get a fair trial.

IMO it should be the "system administrators" managing the computers that should be in trouble, not him. What sort of incompetent idiots wouldn't put a password on a system holding that kind of information...

[OOOOOOOO]

If they weren't even protected by a password, how can they be the "most secure computer systems in the world"? Is it even illegal to log-on to a computer without a password? At the very worst he should be getting tried here in the UK definitely not extradited to the US where he won't even get a fair trial.

IMO it should be the "system administrators" managing the computers that should be in trouble, not him. What sort of incompetent idiots wouldn't put a password on a system holding that kind of information...

Prison?

HAHA! They need to HIRE him not lock him up! They must be **** to have been hacked by a guy in his living room.

This is unfair and sure, he should be punished but prison will do nothing.

[markwolfe Veteran]

While I believe that what he did was a crime, and he should serve some sentence for it, I think that other posters here have really hit the crux of the issue.

The security on many of the systems was shamefully non-existent! Whomever admins these varied systems should all have to answer for their negligent (potentially criminally so) actions in allowing such open computer systems. The heads of each of these IT systems for the government agencies should all be summarily fired. They should also be fined (even if this takes the form of a lawsuit) for the cost of the breech.

If you don't solve the problem, you are just going to be vulnerable from these events all over again.

[tiagosilva29]

The guy needs to face punitive action but 60 years in jail?

Murderers and child molesters get less than that.

[digitalsoft]

I personally dont see the crime in this...

[djDaemon]

I personally dont see the crime in this...

There's quite obviously a crime, despite your ignorance of it. Of course, certainly not one necessitating such a harsh penalty.

[what]

Give him a job and save the jail time for a paedophile for chrissake.

[Gally]

There's just so many stupid things about that... It would take too long to list them...

[zeta_immersion]

holly crap if i were this guy i would cripple every pc in the us justice dept just to **** em up ... 60-life for showing the security of pentagon/nasa ... nice muve but youdeal with stupid politics ...

actually never understood how can a computer hacker that does not kill/rape/or otherwise inflict bodly harm can get the same amount of year as someone that does ... not to mention the level of understanding and brain power needed to hack compared to that of a killer

[portauthority]

HAHAHAAHAAHAA!!!

That's what you get for f*cking with the US.

[Konstanov]

If the UK gave Alexander Litvinenko asylum from Russia's execution of him, then they can't give up this guy either or sets a precedent for Russia to get very ****ed at the UK.

[Knife Party]

HAHAHAAHAAHAA!!!

That's what you get for f*cking with the US.

not even a superpower such as America can be defended from the power of 56k and genius :laugh:

[torrentthief]

utterly ludicrous, they should give him a job protecting the U.S security networks, not locked up in jail for 60yrs, that more than about 4 murders in the UK, as if hacking into some computers is worse than murdering people!

Gordon Brown should bring the guy back to the UK. STUPID Blair for letting bush do whatever he wants AGAIN.

[markwolfe Veteran]

HAHAHAAHAAHAA!!!

That's what you get for f*cking with the US.

:rolleyes:

Or, put conversely, having your computers penetrated and data copied out is what the US gets for having no passwords? :rofl:

[offroadaaron]

They have Internet in Jail?

you know what I'm getting at ;)

[Orange]

The bloke should be given a medal for exposing the weakness the American computer IT system.

Well remember America is dying now lol

[DigitalE]

utterly ludicrous, they should give him a job protecting the U.S security networks, not locked up in jail for 60yrs, that more than about 4 murders in the UK, as if hacking into some computers is worse than murdering people!

Gordon Brown should bring the guy back to the UK. STUPID Blair for letting bush do whatever he wants AGAIN.

...how does President Bush have anything to do with this?

[torrentthief]

probably because bush will likely have ordered the the extradition and if he didnt he has the power to stop the extradition.

[coresx]

If he is actually extremely talented he won't be going to jail forever, he will get hired or be forced to do stuff under cover. This is just to save face and show how strong the government will be. If he was just lucky because system protection was so poor then bye bye.

[Matt]

If he is actually extremely talented he won't be going to jail forever, he will get hired or be forced to do stuff under cover. This is just to save face and show how strong the government will be. If he was just lucky because system protection was so poor then bye bye.

he'll go to "jail" and then most likely start helping out the same people whom he exploited.

[grik]

I see this a big embarassment for the US since he proved it was possible and rediculous easy to enter pentagon computers. US wont let him go, they wont to leave a mark for the next who tries. They could fake prison him and the world gets the lesson and the guy who had no bad intention gets a medal for saving US from a bigger problem.

[1759]

I'd say take him down from breaking into US systems, but since the systems weren't password protected, he didn't really break into anything, did he?

Sorry, but there is something seriously disturbing, when a guy could just snoop around, and start logging into US gov't systems. The State Department/DOJ/DOD should just admit the IT departments failed, and walk away red-faced.

[FloatingFatMan]

utterly ludicrous, they should give him a job protecting the U.S security networks, not locked up in jail for 60yrs, that more than about 4 murders in the UK, as if hacking into some computers is worse than murdering people!

Gordon Brown should bring the guy back to the UK. STUPID Blair for letting bush do whatever he wants AGAIN.

You know... If you actually read the article properly, you avoid making a pretty daft error.

He hasn't BEEN extradited yet, and neither Bush, Brown or Blair have anything to do with this case.

Edited July 29, 2008 by FloatingFatMan