Gary McKinnon "UFO Tracker"

TheTamshee says: the yanks need to take a long hard look in the mirror of reality, it is quite unbeliveable that they think Gary McKinnon is some mastermind criminal, to be hounded for years because he had the expertise to hack into some of the most powerful computer systems the US had at their disposal. "The US government says Mr McKinnon was responsible for the "biggest military hack of all time", involving 97 government computers belonging to organisations including the US Navy and Nasa." Mr McKinnon has admitted hacking into the system in 2001-2, but claims he was looking for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. The US government alleges his conduct was intentional and calculated to influence and affect it by "intimidation and coercion". It says the cost of repair totalled more than 700,000 US dollars (£436,000) At the High Court in London, Mr McKinnon's lawyer discribed Gary as "an eccentric person who has passionate views about UFOs". He began writing his own software programmes at 14, and was diagnosed with Asperger's last August. Mr McKinnon was caught as he tried to download a grainy black and white photograph which he believed was an alien spacecraft from a Nasa computer housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. He was easily traced by the authorities because he used his own email address. He has always said he had no malicious intent but was looking for classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed. He has signed a statement accepting his hacking constituted an offence under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990. The court heard that Mr McKinnon, 43, could expect a sentence of 8-10 years if he is extradited and convicted. TheTamshee continues: so the "Fix" costs were high but Gary proved that their system was seriously flawed. Mr McKinnon should have been rewarded for highlighting this fact. It is also clear that Gary did not atempt to conseal his E-mail address, which is strong evidence that he acted without malice. If the UK goverment has any balls, they should veto the extradition to the US. Gary was on UK soveriegn soil when the crime was committed and if there is charges to be answered, then this should be done in the UK courts, straight and simple. If a US sponsored bank is robbed in London of say $500,000 the criminals are not extradited to the US for trial.