RESULT! Gary McKinnon - case dropped!

Page 1 of 1 [ 15 posts ]

Previous topic | Next topic

whirlingmind
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,130
Location: 3rd rock from the sun

14 Dec 2012, 2:13 pm

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/news/uk/artic ... ped/71913/

...and it's about time too, poor guy.

_________________
*Truth fears no trial*

DX AS & both daughters on the autistic spectrum

Callista
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

14 Dec 2012, 2:18 pm

I'm glad. There's just no call to put Aspie computer hackers in prison with violent criminals. That's cruel and unusual. I don't want him to get off without punishment, because that wouldn't be fair, but I'd want it to be something like community service, probation, no access to computers for however long they decided; possibly some jail time. I honestly don't like prisons very much in general; I would much prefer if we relied more on things like fines and community service, counseling, or classes, rather than imprisoning non-violent criminals. Locking people up really isn't the ideal situation, in my opinion. We should focus more on getting people to make restitution for their crimes and giving them a way to live without committing any more crimes.

_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com

whirlingmind
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,130
Location: 3rd rock from the sun

14 Dec 2012, 2:24 pm

Why should he be punished? If you've read the whole story, he didn't hack in, their computer security was non-existent and he only went in to find proof of aliens. He might have made a poor error of judgement, but he did them a favour because he drew attention to the fact that they had no passwords or just admin ones to gain entry.

_________________
*Truth fears no trial*

DX AS & both daughters on the autistic spectrum

Callista
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

14 Dec 2012, 2:30 pm

whirlingmind wrote:

He did "hack in", in a legal sense. Say you're fascinated with antique furniture and your neighbor has a beautiful bureau you'd love to examine; so one day you see they've left the door open while they went shopping, so you walk in and examine the bureau, then walk out again, having stolen nothing--it's still trespassing, even if the person left their door open, because it's not your property and you know you're not supposed to be there.

I don't think his AS made him unable to understand that he was committing a crime, and I think he should pay for that crime. But I don't think it's a serious crime and I don't think it warrants imprisonment.

_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com

League_Girl
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 27,280
Location: Pacific Northwest

14 Dec 2012, 2:33 pm

Great. That means I can commit harmless crimes and get away with it just as long as they were my special interests. I am a very curious person after all so I wouldn't have to restrain myself from doing things I know is illegal. I will just use my Asperger's diagnoses to avoid charges.

_________________
Son: Diagnosed w/anxiety and ADHD. Also academic delayed and ASD lv 1.

Daughter: NT, no diagnoses. Possibly OCD. Is very private about herself.

Rascal77s
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 12 Nov 2011
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,725

14 Dec 2012, 2:34 pm

Callista wrote:

The US wanted to give him 60 years in prison for $800,000 in damage. When the banks and government collude to f**k millions of people out of trillions of dollars nobody goes to jail. They ruined his life already, 10 years of this BS is time served IMO.

Kyton
Tufted Titmouse

Joined: 3 Nov 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 44

14 Dec 2012, 2:37 pm

whirlingmind wrote:

thats entirely wrong and doesnt change that he forced his way into a us-govt server knowingly and fully aware of the illegality of it.

i get that some here are extremely sympathetic with this guy purely because he too has aspergers, but i believe you reap what you sow, , i think it shows that the justice systems of the world are also ill-equipped, theres no reason this should have taken ten years to clear up, it happened, he admitted it, fine him, give him a brief stay in jail, and move on. the whole world is so carebear at this point that it almost seems like some here wish to use aspergers as an "its ok, im autistic!" card to get away with stuff. this gives us all a bad name when you do this, aside from being wholly inaccurate.

chiastic_slide
Sea Gull

Joined: 14 May 2012
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 206

14 Dec 2012, 2:40 pm

Rascal77s wrote:

Callista wrote:

well said

LabPet
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Jan 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,389
Location: Canada

14 Dec 2012, 2:58 pm

Thank God (minus the religious aspect). Gary's been tortured far too long already. All the best, Gary. And, yeah, the whole ordeal was so slanted.

_________________
The ones who say “You can’t” and “You won’t” are probably the ones scared that you will. - Unknown

Jellybean
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,795
Location: Bedford UK

14 Dec 2012, 3:09 pm

I was so pleased to read about this. One of my friends was working closely with Gary and his Mother to block the extradition. It didn't just hurt Gary, also his mum. He didn't use Aspergers as an excuse though, he was diagnosed afterwards.

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite

)

hyperlexian
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 22,023
Location: with bucephalus

14 Dec 2012, 3:28 pm

moved from General Autism Discussion to Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation

_________________
on a break, so if you need assistance please contact another moderator from this list:
viewtopic.php?t=391105

Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

14 Dec 2012, 9:48 pm

10 nervewracking years of dealing with anxiety and other mental health fallout from this case seems more than sufficient punishment. Dropping the case does not seem unreasonable at this point.

Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,937
Location: Stendec

14 Dec 2012, 11:00 pm

So ... A.S. can be used as a mitigating circumstance that excuses criminal activity.

This means that Adam Lanza was a pure as the driven snow.

_________________

My previous signature line was cancelled to appease the woke.

Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

15 Dec 2012, 1:40 am

Fnord wrote:

So ... A.S. can be used as a mitigating circumstance that excuses criminal activity.

This means that Adam Lanza was a pure as the driven snow.

That's not the takeaway from this. He was not extradited to the US because it was determined he would be a suicide risk if he were placed in prison. That's not AS, that's depression, possible trauma.

This is what the article says about the decision to not prosecute now:

Quote:

Mr Starmer said that, between February 1 2001 and March 19 2002, Mr McKinnon allegedly gained unauthorised access to 97 US government computers. A decision was taken that the appropriate place for Mr McKinnon to be tried was the US, which sought extradition. On October 16, Home Secretary Theresa May decided not to extradite him, and added that it was for the DPP to decide whether Mr McKinnon had a case to answer in a UK court.

Mr Starmer said: "None of the reasons for the original decision in 2002 that the appropriate place for Mr McKinnon to be tried was the United States have altered. So far as the evidence is concerned, the position in 2012 is the same as it was in 2002. Most of the witnesses are in the US, as is nearly all the physical evidence and the bulk of the unused material, some of which is sensitive."

He added: "The potential difficulties in bringing a case in England and Wales now should not be underestimated, not least the passage of time, the logistics of transferring sensitive evidence prepared for a court in the US to London for trial, the participation of US government witnesses in the trial and the need fully to comply with the duties of disclosure imposed on the CPS. The prospects of a conviction against Mr McKinnon which reflects the full extent of his alleged criminality are not high."

And he said: "The joint CPS/police panel recommended to the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that he should not commence a new criminal investigation into Mr McKinnon. The Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has accepted that advice."

alex
Developer

Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,216
Location: Beverly Hills, CA

15 Dec 2012, 1:46 am

Rascal77s wrote:

QFT

_________________
I'm Alex Plank, the founder of Wrong Planet. Follow me (Alex Plank) on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexplank.bsky.social

Page 1 of 1 [ 15 posts ]

Jump to:

RESULT! Gary McKinnon - case dropped! Post Reply New Topic

RESULT! Gary McKinnon - case dropped!