Gary McKinnon is finally facing an extradition hearing to the USA at Bow Street Magistrates Court today.
Gary McKinnon was indicted by the US authorities in November 2002 (.pdf) for allegedly gaining unauthorised access to over 90 US Military computer systems, including some at the the supposedly competent National Security Agency, the US Army, the US Airforce and the US Navy, where a e-mail system was allegedly damaged. Further minor breaches of NASA and some private sector and low security local government computers are also alleged.
As with the case of Babar Ahmad, also a British IT worker, there are a number of questions that should be asked about this attempt to extradite someone to the USA:
- Why has the legal process taken so long from November 2002, when Gary McKinnon was first arrested, and a US Grand Jury produced an indictment, for the Extradition proceedings take the next step ? Could the US Presidential election campaign have had anything to do with this delay ? Were the proceedings delayed to prevent embarrassing accounts of US Military incompetence under the watch of President Bush from surfacing in court ?
- Given that all the alleged offences took place from a home computer located in London in the United Kingdom, and that they are serious enough to attract the maximum penalties under the UK Computer Misuse Act 1990, why is Gary McKinnon not being tried here in the UK ?
- Exactly as has been argued in the Babar Ahmad case, given the xenophobic paranoia of the US authorities, what written assurance is there that Gary McKinnon, once in the power of the US Authorities, will not be handed over to a Military Tribunal, especially, as unlike Babar Ahmad, he is accused of "attacks" directly on actual US Military systems.
- We have been informed that Gary McKinnon was not only "looking for evidence of X-Files type UFO conspiracies", but also investigating the alleged activities of the US Military training of Third World secret police and military personnel in torture and interrogation techniques at the notorious School of the Americas/ Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. In the light of this, what written assurance is there that Gary McKinnon will not be declared a "enemy combatant" and sent to the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp or subjected to "extraordinary rendition" i.e. outsourced torture in a compliant police state allied country, possibly at the hands of School of the Americas trainees ?
- Given the extraordinary lapses in computer security which an allegation of unauthorised access to sensitive military systems on this scale implies, why have no senior US Military personnel been court martialled ?
Where are the extraditions and prosecutions of all the foreigners, including citizens of the United States of America, who are attacking the United Kingdom's computer systems ? There have been none to date.
UPDATE: we have launched Yet Another Blog to cover this particular Gary McKinnon extradition case, as we have talked to several people who are thinking "there but for the Grace of God..."
The Free Gary McKinnon blog is at http://FreeGary.org.uk
It may not influence the decision of the Home Secretary, but the issues are worthy of more public discussion which could lead off at a slight tangent to the main topics discussed here.
Gary McKinnon's extradition appearance has seen him released on £5,000 bail to re-appear on July 27th.
The media hype about "the world's biggest hacker" , which seems to be lazy media shorthand for "the world's biggest military hacker" ignores both the large number of script kiddy groups who have defaced thousands of websites, and the long running computer intrusions circa 1998 into the US Military networks, codenamed "Solar Sunrise" for which nobody has yet been caught.
There's something rather sweet about his success in infiltrating the US military and Nasa, in order to look for UFOs...
First visit, very interesting.
I'll be back!!
Reading the Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll.
You can still Telnet into some of the military sites in the book.
About the US Military incompetence...
Have anyone tried just to copy and paste hidden IP addresses from the referred usmck1102vaind.pdf? They are IP addresses of “hacked” US Military PC’s... So anyone can try to hack thoese PC's if he wants :) I don't.
The IP addresses are up to 4 years out of date, and they are of servers rather than PC's.
According to the propaganda, the US military has invested heavily in Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems and Honeypots since then.
Cooperation with foreign authorities is also meant to be a bit less of an obstacle, especially if the magic word "Chechnya" is used to justify a request to trace the user's of say, a Russian based IP address 8-)
The UK signed a new extradition treaty in 2003 that allows the US to extradite a UK national without having to provide prima facie evidence.
I wonder if after the indictment in 2002 they deliberatley waited til now to proceed, wouldn't surprise me, yanks think they can piss all over everyone.
However there is no reciprocity in the act meaning we can't do the same to the US.
I myself am facing extradition also.
Technically Blunkett forced therough the Extradition Act 2003, which speeded up extadition with "tier 1" countries with supposedly proper fair justice systems.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030041.htm
However, the US Congress has still not yet ratified this treaty, but, like idiots, the NuLabour government is honouring their side of the new rules.
It is also one of the few bits of legislation which is retrospective i.e. it applies to past events not just future extradition requests!
There is no excuse for a different standard of proof and/or different legal costs for extraditions in either direction between the UK and the USA.
Why can't they extend the court video link systems available both in the UK and the USA, to allow someone being extradited to "appear" in the appropriate court, and to have the prima facie evidence cross examined before all the trauma and expense of being sent overseas ?
Hal: Are you facing extradition to the USA ? Are you willing to relate any more details ?
He very nice site. They speek of him like he's the biggest hacker of the USA. Well, i still think Kevin was.
It's stupid to delete files, but have you seen the
PDF document?:http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/cyberlaw/usmck1102vaind.pdf
IP addresses are blacked out right ? Try select the text of the IP's and pasted it in Notepad........ Stupid Americans.
http://www.garymckinnon.com
If the treaty hasn't been ratified by the US how can it legally be used in a UK court to extradite Gary?
The awful photo of Gary that has been used by almost every publication looks nothing like him. How about using the good photo with his X girlfriend just to show that he's an OK guy. He's actually a really kind and gentle human being who cares about the planet he lives on.
Gary writes great songs and has an amazing voice, shame he didn't concentrate on only that.
The US should congratulate him for showing up the seriously dangerous weaknesses in the US security system. The US will be totally and publicly embarassed by this so why try and extradite Gary after all this time? He was just getting his life together again. Who does this extradition benefit?
Jay
I just found out about this meeting. Will it make a difference? I wonder.
Good day to have the meeting though. How about a UK independence day, if we ever gain our independence from the US and become free citizens with equal rights once again.
Wouldn't that be something?
What happened to Babar Ahmad? Was he extradited?
Jay
Central London- Extradition Independence From The USA (4th Jul 2005)
Presumably you are referring to this meeting:
"All-Party Panel of Peers and MP's to Demand Extradition Independence from US on American
Independence Day - 04 July 2005
Meeting Venue: Committee Room 11, House of Commons, Westminster, SW1
Date: 04 July 2005
Time: 6pm-8pm (prompt start)
On Monday 04 July 2005, an all-party panel of peers and MP's will join prominent British lawyers at the House of Commons to demand an end to the one-sided extradition arrangements between Britain and the U.S.
Since the U.K.-U.S. Extradition Treaty of 2003 was signed, the U.S. has demanded the extradition of over 40 British Citizens without having to provide any evidence. Even if the U.S. ratifies the Treaty, Britain cannot seek the extradition of any U.S. Citizen without first proving a case in a U.S. court. Therefore, British Citizens have inferior rights in comparison to their American counterparts.
The following will join other MP's and the families and friends of Britons facing extradition to the US, in Committee Room 11 of the House of Commons:
Chair: Saghir Hussain (Solicitor)
Lord Goodhart (Liberal Democrats Constitutional Affairs Spokesman)
Boris Johnson MP (Conservative MP for "Enron Three" British bankers
facing extradition to the US on fraud allegations)
Sadiq Khan MP (Labour MP for Babar Ahmad, Briton facing extradition to
the U.S. on terrorism allegations)
Hugo Charlton (Green Party Chairman and Barrister)
Gareth Pierce (Prominent Human Rights lawyer)
James Welch (Liberty Solicitor - involved in Katherine Gun Case)
Yvonne Ridley (Journalist, Respect Party)
Since seating capacity is limited, media correspondents are requested to reserve places by telephoning 07915 063 564 or emailing extraditiontreaty2003@yahoo.co.uk
Seats will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis."
I think Babar Ahmad has been dealt with by Bow Street Magistrates' Court, and is either awaiting the Home Secretary's decision, or may be appealing to the High Court
http://www.freebabarahmad.com
Gary McKinnon is due in Bow Street again on 27th of July.
http://FreeGary.org.uk
Will the meeting in Parliament or the Early Day motion signed by 60 MPs make any difference ?
Probably not in any of the current cases which are pending, but the Government may be forced to relent on its surrender of sovereignty to the USA, without an equal reciprocal arrangement being in place, but realistically, probably not this year.
I don't agree with hacking but I don't agree with injustice either. It can't be right to extradite Gary without proper UK hearings to test the evidence. This is just completely out of proportion.
I attended the meeting in the house of commons yesterday. The meeting was primarily about Babar Ahmad and he had many good supporters on his side.
George Galloway was there and was as eloquent as always.
One of the Enron 3 was there and his account of the American legal system was incredibly enlightening. He also pointed out that America never asked the UK for the extradition without Prima Facie evidence but the UK had apparently just decided to hand UK citizens over to to the US on this basis, something no other country in the world does apart from Ireland and France but he pointed out that France will never extradite a French national under those circumstances.
It seems that much of what the UK government is doing may be illegal. The "treaty" has never been ratified by the US and the UK government's interpretation of the "treaty" is extremely dubious.
A judicial review of the present cases and a request to discharge the treaty seems to be the way forward and subsequently an amendment to the treaty in order to avoid the present misuse of the wording in it.
I'm glad I attended the meeting which although full and standing room only remained; it would have been good to see the meeting place overflowing into the streets.
I think the meeting room in the house of commons would have been overflowing if the G8 conference in Edinburgh hadn't been taking place in the same week. This unfortunately meant that the meeting wasn't covered on our Television news.
Hope they get their dates sorted out next time around as this was a serious error.
Glad George Galloway still managed to attend both.
The Enron website www.friendsextradited.org is also pretty informative.
Thank you to whoever runs this website for bringing such important matters to light.
FREE GARY!!!!!!!!
Jay
Gary should not be extradited, there should at least be UK hearings first. Ridiculous. As far as I can see it's a case of inadequate US security,these people hate having their pride dented and they probably feel they've got to 'get' Gary over and use him as a scapegoat for everything in order to look OK.
FREE GARY!!
I still can't access www.garymckinnon.com website. It doesn't come up unless I click on a cache.
Jay
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