Brit Afraid to be Send to Gitmo for Hacking Pentagon

Filed under: Britain, Guantanamo Bay — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on April 3, 2007 @ 11:00 pm CEST

Mark Tran reports for the Guardian, that the “British national, Gary McKinnon, today lost his high court bid to avoid extradition to the US for allegedly carrying out the ‘biggest military computer hack of all time’.”

The case dates back to 2001, when it is alleged Mr McKinnon hacked into computers belonging to the US military and scientific establishments from his home in Wood Green, north London.

Under the codename Solo, he is said during a period of 18 months to have hacked into hundreds of machines belonging to the Pentagon, the US army and air force and Nasa not properly secured by officials.

US prosecutors claim he caused $700,000 (£375,000) worth of damage. A lawyer for the US government said the hacking “was intentional and calculated to influence and affect the US government by intimidation and coercion”.

When asked why he did what he did, he answered that he “had simply been searching for evidence of UFO activity.”

His fear, and that of his lawyers, is that he will be send to Guantanamo Bay. He also “faces a sentence of 70 years if found guilty.”

70 years. Gitmo.

Quite a heavy price to pay for trying to find information about E.T. isn’t it?

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6 Comments »

1 Interested

April 3, 2007 @ 11:09 pm CEST

if he was.

The charges include one incident - shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001 - that brought down a network of 300 computers at the Earle naval weapons station in New Jersey. Another raid allegedly knocked out 2,000 computers in Washington.

What would he be doing in Earle Naval weapons station computers searching for UFO information?

His fear, and that of his lawyers, is that he will be send to Guantanamo Bay. He also “faces a sentence of 70 years if found guilty.”

This seems mute as they put.

The extradition proceedings have taken so long because the UK sought assurances that Mr McKinnon would not face a military tribunal and would not serve his sentence at Guantánamo Bay

Which at any event, I don’t see why they’d seek for a military trial anyway. Unless it was tactics to get the guy to plead guilty rather than going through the lengthy trial. At either rate, 70 seems a bit excessive.

2 mvdg

April 4, 2007 @ 8:28 am CEST

lol yeah a bit it does, doesn’t it

3 David

April 4, 2007 @ 9:03 am CEST

The Gitmo angle is being used by a lot of unmeritorious defendants to try to avoid extradition. Unfortunately, because it chimes with popular anti-Americanism people are astonishingly gullible to suggestions that anyone extradited to the US could end up there.

4 mvdg

April 4, 2007 @ 9:47 am CEST

David,

As I understand it a Dutch person was arrested a few weeks ago, for possession of marijuana in the U.S. and sent to Gitmo.

That’s what has become of America: don’t do drugs.

If you do: go to Gitmo.

5 mvdg

April 4, 2007 @ 9:50 am CEST

Just to make this clear: my above comment was a joke.

6 Interested

April 4, 2007 @ 2:43 pm CEST

Just to make this clear: my above comment was a joke.

lmao - you sure? I think your stance on it being a joke is preposterous!

hehe

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