Gary McKinnon
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Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish-born hacker facing extradition to the United States on charges of perpetrating what is claimed by one US prosecutor to be the ³biggest military computer hac k of all time´. Mr. McKinno n was caught in 2002 as he tried to downl oad a grainy black - and-white photograph he believed was an alien spacecraft on a NASA computer housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas but before the download was complete, Mr. McKinnon was disconnected. The authorities easily tracked him down as he had used his own email address, which led officers straight to his door. He was accused of using his computer skills to gain access to 53 US Army computers, including those used for national defence and security, and 26 US Navy computers, including those at US Naval Weapons Station Earle, which is responsible for replenishing munitions and supplies for the deployed Atlantic fleet. American authorities say he stole 950 passwords and deleted files at Earle naval weapons station in New Jersey. The US military alleges that he caused 800,000 dollars -worth (£550,000) of damage and lef t 300 computers at a US Navy weapons statio n unusable immedi ately after the September 11 atro cities. A senior military officer at the Pentagon told The Sunday Telegraph "US policy is to fight these attacks as strongly as possible. As a result of Mr. McKinnon's actions, we suffered serious damage. This was not some harmless incident. He did very serious and delibera te damage to military an d NASA computers and left silly and anti - America messages. All the evidence was that someone was staging a very serious attack on US computer systems. Mr. McKinnon never denied that he wandered around the compu ter networks of a wide number of US military institutio ns. Following legal hearings in the UK it was decided in July 2006 that he should be extradited to the US. In February 2007 his lawyers argued against the ruling in an appeal to the High Court in London, which was turned down on 3 April. On 30 July 2007 the House of Lords agreed to hear the appeal and on 17 June 2008 the Law Lords began hearing the case.
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Transcript of Gary McKinnon
8/8/2019 Gary McKinnon
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/gary-mckinnon 1/2
Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish-born hacker facingextradition to the United States on charges of perpetrating what is claimed byone US prosecutor to be the ³biggest military computer hack of all time´.
Mr. McKinnon was caught in 2002 as he tried to download a grainy black -and-white photograph he believed was an alien spacecraft on a NASA computer housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas but before the downloadwas complete, Mr. McKinnon was disconnected. The authorities easily trackedhim down as he had used his own email address, which led officers straight tohis door.
He was accused of using his computer skills to gain access to 53 US Armycomputers, including those used for national defence and security, and 26 US
Navy computers, including those at US Naval Weapons Station Earle, which isresponsible for replenishing munitions and supplies for the deployed Atlanticfleet. American authorities say he stole 950 passwords and deleted files at Earlenaval weapons station in New Jersey.
The US military alleges that he caused 800,000 dollars -worth (£550,000)of damage and left 300 computers at a US Navy weapons statio n unusableimmediately after the September 11 atrocities. A senior military officer at thePentagon told The Sunday Telegraph "US policy is to fight these attacks asstrongly as possible. As a result of Mr. McKinnon's actions, we suffered seriousdamage. This was not some harmless incident. He did very serious anddeliberate damage to military and NASA computers and left silly and anti-America messages.
All the evidence was that someone was staging a very serious attack on UScomputer systems. Mr. McKinnon never denied that he wandered around thecomputer networks of a wide number of US military institutions. Followinglegal hearings in the UK it was decided in July 2006 that he should beextradited to the US. In February 2007 his lawyers argued against the ruling inan appeal to the High Court in London, which was turned down on 3 April. On30 July 2007 the House of Lords agreed to hear the appeal and on 17 June 2008
the Law Lords began hearing the case.
8/8/2019 Gary McKinnon
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/gary-mckinnon 2/2
This Judgment was delivered on 30 July 2008 with the Law Lords judging
that Gary McKinnon could be extradited to the United States. He was given twoweeks to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights before extradition, butthe Court halted the extradition for an additional two weeks to allow time tohear his appeal on August 28, which was subsequently rejected.
His legal team subsequently decided to lodge an other appeal, which wasgranted, based on the fact that McKinnon had recently been diagnosed withAsperger syndrome. His diagnosis was made in August 2008 by the
psychologist Prof Simon Baron-Cohen. On 31 July 2009, McKinnon lost hisapplication for judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision not to block theextradition, and also of the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision not to bring
proceedings in the English courts.
If he is extradited to the US and charged, McKinnon faces up to 70 years in jail and has expressed fears that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay. Hecontinues to contest the extradition proceedings and believes that he should facetrial in the UK, principally as he argues that the destruction allegations arefraudulent and that any alleged crimes were committed there and not in theUnited States.
Mr. McKinnon has said he believed he would get a fairer trial in the UK than in America. Mr. McKinnon is now planning to take the case to the newSupreme Court next spring, in the run-up to the expected general election.
