Posted by
The Muser on Friday, August 29, 2008 11:23:07 AM
First off, let me ask you...do you know who Gary McKinnon is? Hmmm you say...the name rings a bell...but no, I can't remember. Who is he? And that, you see, is the problem. Gary McKinnon is the British citizen who hacked into several U.S. government computers..NASA, the army, navy, air force, DOD, a few others, looking for information on what he feels sure is a UFO coverup being staged by several governments around the world, including the US and the UK. All McKinnon was doing was looking for information, trying to blow the lid off his supposed coverup. He did not hack into the computers with malicious intent, and I am convinced that he did nothing harmful to them. However, my own United States government has accused him of causing nearly a million dollars worth of damage to their systems and they want to send him to prison for the rest of his natural life! I, for one, DO NOT AGREE!
Don't get me wrong, what McKinnon did was illegal and he should be punished, whether in England or here makes no difference to me. However, let's put this thing in perspective...he wasn't trying to steal secrets to sell, wasn't trying to undermine national security, wasn't putting anyone in danger by releasing classified information,all he was trying to do was to find out if the US government knew more about UFO's than they cared to say. And now, because of a single error in judgement, they want to imprison him until he is dead. Hell, I read stories in the paper EVERY SINGLE DAY about murderers getting 10 or 15 year sentences, or in some cases, even less than that. And personally, I think killing someone is a whole hell of a lot worse than hacking into a few computers. The funny thing is that McKinnon is no super hacker, he's not Nemo or even close. The software he used wasn't some underground package, developed by somebody who hacks supercomputers on a daily basis using nothing more than an old 286 and a couple of toothpicks! It was off-the-shelf stuff, not off-the-wall stuff, packages that anyone can buy, and probably not have to look any farther than the nearest CompUSA or whatever computer superstore is closest to you. He is a guy that made an awful decision, but he does NOT deserve to spend the rest of his life in jail. In fact, I think that the folks who were in charge of those computers, the security admins, system admins, whomever, they are the ones who ought to be put on trial. These computers do indeed contain information that is sometimes vital to our nation's defense, or that could compromise a covert agent, or operation. So how come a guy with no real hacking background can so easily break into them?? Huh?? Answer me that please. That is where the real crime lies here. In security systems that are so weak that they can't even stand up to a weekend hacker with a software package from freakin' Wal-Mart. We need to find out WHY McKinnon was able to push past the security of these systems so easily, and how to prevent it from happening when it's someone who REALLY wants to hurt us. Focus on that, give McKinnon a year in a minimum security prison, fine him a half-million dollars, and spend the rest of the money you would have spent on his lifetime upkeep to correct the security problems with our most vital computer systems!
And by the way, when the government says he caused $900,00 worth of damage, is that real dollars, or military dollars?? Because when a toilet seat costs $10,000, or a wrench costs $3200, then $900,000 dollars doesn't amount to more than him erasing the word "the" in three or four places. C'mon people, get real here. Let's focus on the scary part, that the next time it happens it might be someone a lot more malicious than Gary McKinnon, and let's LEAVE McKINNON ALONE!!