Gary McKinnon Press Conference - Thursday 15th January 2009 - 1.15pm , Doughty Street Chambers, Doughty Street, London

Why free him when he is guilty?

He hacked into US military and government systems on the same day as the 9/11 atrocities - he should be tried as a terrorist or attempted terrorism!

He's just admitted his guilt by signing a 'confession' to show he knows he has done wrong and admits to the lesser UK charges and wont get extradited - no way can he claim anything under the mental health act or plead insanity.

Chuck him in jail

He did not hack on the same day as 9/11 nor for months after, your information is totally wrong.

He has always admitted computer misuse and has always denied the alleged damage.

He is not asking to be free but is asking for the right to be tried in his own country, just as other accused British hackers were allowed.

He is not pleading insanity and you are very ill informed.

It would do President Bush a power of good to grant Gary McKinnon a pardon on his last day of office and prior to Autism Sunday on 8th February.

Bush would get good publicity throughout the world for showing compassion for a vulnerable man with Aspergers syndrome.

Bush and Obama would both get lots of media coverage on th 20th January, Bush's last day in office, Obamas inauguration day and Gary McKinnons court date.

Ther are 60 million people in the world who have Aspergers/ Autism and millions more that are vulnerable and have children that are vulnerable.

Bush would be a fool not to give a pardon to this man on his last day in office as it would boost his image throughout the world and would show a compassionate side that many believe is not there.
It would also give him maximum good publicity on the very day he leaves office.

anon, you must have read all the time faked news or believed all time in your own (stupid) thoughts.

So what do you know that made you believe he's guilty?

You live "in a box"?? How about "in the white house".

The American Government should look into getting tighter firewalls for its systems! Either that or Offer him a job!

"Good work olde’ boy"

Why is my comment removed?

fIRST AND FOREMOST, GARY DO NOT GO OVER TO THIS COUNTRY VOLUNTARILY. YOU WILL END UP IN GUANTAMNO BAY IN FRONT OF A MILITARY TRIBUNAL WITH TRUMPED UP CHARGES.

SECONDLY, DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD THEY SAY WHEN IT COMES TO THE PLEA BARGAIN PROCESS. I AM LIVING PROOF THEY DO NOT STAND BY THE DEALS THEY MAKE. I DARE ANYONE TO REFUTE THE EVIDENCE RETAIN TO PROVE THE YANKS ENGAE IN THIS TYPE OF ILLEGAL JUSTICE. IN THERE JAILS YOU SUBJECTED YOU TO MENTAL, PHYSICAL AND TORTURE IN VIOLATION OF YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS. BE ASSURED THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS. YOUR RIGHTS WILL GO UNNOTICED TRUST ME. AGAIN I AM LIVING LIVING PROOF AS I TO HAVE EXPERIENCED THERE BARBARIC ACTIONS AND I KNOW THE ILLEGAL TACTICS USED TO OBTAIN UNLAWFUL GUILTY PLEAS.

@ non anonymous - email info@FreeGary.org.uk (using the PGP public encryption key, if you like) and I will explain, although it should be obvious.

PRESS CONFERENCE at 1.15pm. Please Note:The Time of the Press Conference in Doughty Street Chambers has been changed to 1.15pm on Thursday 15th January 2009.

Mark:

The US is not in the habit of trumping up charges and he has already admitted to the hacking. If the US is such a bad place why are so many people trying to immigrate there.

This guy is an admitted criminal let him stand up like a man and answer the charges. If he ends up like other criminals he will get a big book deal and retire rich anyway.

And Andy the get better firewalls comment is well taken except that Gary is a hacker and a better firewall only makes it harder. Nothing is perfect.

If a person from the US hacked your firewall would'nt you want him punished as he HAS done wrong.

You can Hack into a Jungle, you don't hack into a bowling green.

The U.S Military computers had no passwords and no firewalls on thousands of machines not for weeks but for years on end, including before and after 9/11 when there should have been heightened security.

Gary McKinnon should be tried in his own country just as every other accused British hackers has been.

@ fg, ok :) but it doesnt help our people when we don't add the (current) information like this one about the government,.. (such as Blair). I'm tired of targeting (now) something else. Thats what NOW really needs attention and not WHAT WE THE PEOPLE DOES,ETC even when the article isnt about Gary.
We can't make our own peace. So everyone needs to see (and know/believe)..[that too]..

Thanks

I know I said I would no longer contribute to this site but need to make one last contribution as I may not be able to contribute again as I may be remanded in custody to be extradited to the US myself.

fg. Thank you if you post this.

Gary McKinnon is the test of the UK's ability to govern itself and not be bullied by aggressive US prosecutors.

Gary McKinnon has every right to a UK trial and I myself and my wife are in court this morning at 10am to face extradition from Scotland to the US and Gary McKinnon or any UK citizen should be able to be tried in the UK if that is where the alleged crime was committed.

The UK government has sold some of our citizens to the US in return for what I wonder?

Please support Gary McKinnon as a mistake can't be rectified later but he can be given UK justice.

@ Brian Howes - good luck in court today.

Good luck, Brian and Kerry Anne. If there is any justice in the world, and i still believe there is, then this wicked extradition travesty must fail.

Brian

Our thoughts are with you today, good luck and stay strong x

Extradition Gary McKinnon

Stoned autistic hacker inching towards doom...

I've just received an email from the National Autistic Society (NAS):

Dear Supporter, Today we urgently need your help to call on the Attorney General to reconsider the decision to extradite Gary McKinnon in light of his recent diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. Gary has been accused of hacking into US defence computer systems and is likely to be incarcerated in a super­maximum security prison if extradited.

Gary McKinnon

So, naturally, being a dedicated and long-time supporter of the NAS, I wrote:

dedicated and long-time supporter

Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC
The Attorney General's Office
20 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NF

Dear Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC

I am writing to urge you to consider the case of Gary McKinnon, a man who is accused of hacking into US computer systems. In 2005 the Crown Prosecution Service decided that his alleged offences were best tried in the US rather than in the UK, and in light of new evidence relating to Asperger syndrome in his case I am asking you to please reconsider the decision.

I understand that he only received a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome in August 2008 and that this hasn’t been taken into account in previous legal proceedings within the UK. This new evidence relating to Asperger syndrome is crucial and I hope you will consider this lifelong developmental disability as relevant now. It is not uncommon for people with Asperger syndrome to develop single-minded, obsessional interests, and to be unaware of the effect their actions have on others.

incarcerated in a super-max prison

It is of great concern to me that the likely extradition proceedings may be damaging for a person with Asperger syndrome.

It is likely that if extradited to the US, Gary would be incarcerated in a super-maximum security prison. Conditions within such prisons may lead to extreme distress and a person with Asperger syndrome would be particularly vulnerable to developing mental health problems, especially as Gary would be denied access to those on whom he relies.

I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

I call on you to take urgent action to stop the extradition of Gary McKinnon, and to allow him to stand trial in the UK for a crime he freely admits committing in the UK.

I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

Yours sincerely,

The New Republic.

it's a long story actually

Job Done... Except...

Well, it's a long story actually... And it begins with the New Republic joining the autism Hub...

I was homeless, as I had been for several years, living in the burnt out shell of an old boat on the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire.

I was in a bad, bad, way.

mental health staff barely capable of coherent speech

I'd left the place I had been living at, because of..., well I told the whole story on the original New Republic Blog and won't repeat it; anyway no-one seemed to believe the, well frankly implausible, tales of farms boys trying to murder me and atavistic mental health staff barely capable of coherant speech...

I'd had enough; I mean really, really had enough. For years I'd been trying to get help from the the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (the local health service) and it just wasn't happening.

then I was going to kill myself

I decided to write an account of what had been happening to me as an example of the realities of life for someone with high-functioning autism. And then I was going to kill myself. Very publicly. I hoped that the publicity generated would be of some use to "the Cause".

So, I began writing my last testiment and asked to join the Hub. I was in a hurry; I was on a mission and wasn't taking no for an answer as HJ and DS found out. Sorry guys, erm..., 'behavioural issues'...

I was so traumatised and stressed I was drifting in and out of para-pyschotic states. During my more lucid moments, I worked on writing the New Republic, and researching and planning ways to kill myself. I decided on carbon-monoxide poisoning from the gas cooker as the most reliable method.

blunt loaded with the real McCoy

And then one day "Trucky" turned up with a blunt loaded with the real McCoy. Chatted for half an hour and left me to finish what was actually a quite magnificent creation in brandy-soaked tobbacco leaves and Jack Herer.

I'm not sure about the neurological details of what happened, maybe a sudden dopamine rush or something, but I felt at least a glimmer of hope that it didn't have to end the way I planned. But what to do?

I know! Big London Autism Charity had just started their "Be Nice to Adult Autistics" campaign. I'd been a member for years. Even after years of homelessness, I'd still managed to keep my subscriptions up to date and always responded to their calls for people to "Take Action".

"Be Nice to Adult Autistics" campaign

They could use me as an example of the realities of life for adult autistics; help me make contact with the local papers and radio stations and shame the health services into helping me. I mean, you couldn't find a better example of what they were campaigning about.

media-star boffin Professor Simon Baron-Cohen

I wrote to their press officer Gemima Bendy, at London HQ. Sent her some pictures of the conditions I was living in, told her how I got there and pointed out that the responsibilty for my care was with the same health authority and Cambridge University Teaching Trust, that their Vice President and all round media-star boffin Professor Simon Baron-Cohen was employed by...

I think that was where I went wrong...

Gemima told me to fuck off, very, very politely.

You can just imagine the scene at HQ when my letter arrived...

told me to fuck off, very, very politely.

Gemima Bendy: Oh my God! It's him. God! The nutter. You know the one that keeps doing sponsored talk-about-pre-historic-British-measuring-systems and sending us cheques for 38 pence like it matters or we care...

Jeremy Furry: Look, I'm only here until Daddy dies, then I get to be a gentleman farmer. Don't involve me. What does he want?

Gemima Bendy: Sent some pictures. Says he wants to be the face of our Be Nice To Adult Autistics Campaign.

Jeremy Furry: What does he look like?

Gemima Bendy: Like this...

Jeremy Furry: Urghh! Christ! Tell him to fuck off.

Gemima Bendy: Oh it's worse than that, much worse, much, much worse. His doctor is Professor Simply Double-Barrelled.

Jeremy Furry: O way too hot to handle Baby, just send him a leaflet on things for mad people to do to keep them off the street and tell him to go away or we'll call the police... And tell the professor to have him put down or something...

then other stuff happened

So anyway, then other stuff happened and I'm still here (for the time being anyway).

The moral of the story? I'll let you decide. But I would like to end with a message to Gary:

a message to Gary

Dear Gary,

I've written today to Baroness Scotland asking her to reconsider her decision to haul yo' ass off to some living hell of infectious anal rape for the rest of your natural.

I did this at the request of the NAS as part of their Be Nice To Adult Autistics Campaign.

your threats to "continue to disrupt at the highest level"

I have a lot of sympathy for anyone looking at this fate.

I'm less sympathetic to your claims of just looking for evidence of UFO's and Free-Energy devices covered up by the US, to save Big Oil.

This is because you left anti-American graffitti, deleted user accounts, stole passwords and deleted logs and of course, there's your threats to "continue to disrupt at the highest level".

you're a stoned fuckwit

You maybe autistic, but you're also a stoned fuckwit that thought you were just having a laugh and now it's all turned a bit leery.

Hey, I've been there too.

But I hope you've learned a lesson.

Best Wishes,

The New Republic.

The New Republic, you write a good letter.
It's awful that you were left to live in those conditions.

Did you eventually get any help from anyone?
Did Simon Baron-Cohen try to get you help with finding housing? Are you still homeless?

I know Gary and he's beeen obsessively into UFO's for as long as I can remember.
He isn't anti American but it's true he was upset about how many civilians including children were killed by the American government in illegal war and he was silly enough to leave notes saying that but hey....a lot of people throughout the world felt that way.
I believe he also thought that 9/11 was an inside job and that it was no accident there was a stand down afterwards, as no fighter planes were sent up to make the aeroplanes force land as would normally happen under normal protocol.

A lot of good Americans support Gary. Even many Americans feel they have lost all Moral Authority in the world and are hoping that Obama will rectify this.
See link below.

http://www.theusdaily.com:80/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=629878&type=home

Gary has well and truly learned his lesson and I agree that he was a fool to do what he did but he should be tried in th U.K just as other accused hackers have been.

I think extradition should be used only for murder and the like and I think all homeless and vulnerable people should be housed by the government and get the care they need.

I hope you're OK and that you've got friends and/or family around to help you.

Take Care

Olive

Jail the creators of the evil + illegal -law or just stop all business connections to the U.S. government (or whatever evil there is*)

*You only need to find out which, a very easy job!

I'm from USA and I say let the guy go. If anything what he has brought fourth is indeed lies from my own goverment, than they should be the ones to account for there deceit deeds, not him. He has had curisoty only. From this person we should all demand the truth. As a American I want only this...

The extradition laws work differently for UK to US than for US to UK. So to whatever 'US citizen' previously posted something about how we would want the same if the roles were reveresed - that is nonsense. These laws highly favour the US over the UK which is completely against the so-called 'special relationship' we are supposed to hold with the USA. I myself have studied in the US and have many American friends, including my current girlfriend, I have even considered living there. The people are nice but the system of their government is far from nice, I just hope this changes under the Democrats. If an American hacker hacked into UK government files the UK press would probably pay them a great deal of money and hail them as a hero for revealing the truth.

Whether or not Gary is extradited his story should continue, I for one would like to know more abot the information he gathered during his 'hacking' into to US military computers, especially if they include cover-ups and 'black-ops' involving technologies an/or UFOs which as I understand have been claimed by Gary as being part of what he found.

Okay so people say Gary was having a laugh or knew what he was doing? Intelligent? YES, but also with a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome which is a medical diagnosis and effects a triad of impairments, being social communication, social interaction and flexibility of thought (rigidity). People are highly missed judged when they have Asperger Syndrome, which is an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and are thought of as idiots but as I already stated they can be highly intelligent but struggle with the social rules and parimeters of life, especially to work out the consequence of their actions. For some AS people that we may know look no further than Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Andy Warhol to name but a few. Please support Gary and try to understand more about Asperger Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

JAN'S press conference. So, what about the press conference, fg?

US Citizen, you posted: "This guy is an admitted criminal let him stand up like a man and answer the charges.."

US Citizen, you start out all business like and then attack GARY'S masculinity. What do you have to say to women who fight injustice? Are they off your radar screen?

Patrick McGoohan died. I never met GARY, but his situation seems similar to Mr. McGoohan's TV personalities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5083460.stm

"It led him to the ITV series Danger Man, in which he played the lead role as spy John Drake.

Drake also was not to carry a gun and throughout the first year of the series, he never killed anyone.

But the show still became highly successful in several countries...

Its successor, The Prisoner, produced by McGoohan himself and filmed in north Wales in 1967 and 1968 revolved around the efforts of a secret agent, who resigned early in his career, to clear his name.

His aim was to escape from a beautiful but psychologically brutal prison for people who know too much.

By the time the series ended, McGoohan was also contributing to the writing and directing of the series, which many critics found too philosophical and difficult for the average viewer to understand.

Nevertheless, like Danger Man it became a telelvision classic, and was still being shown around the world decades later.

The series was as popular as it was surreal and the mysterious final episode - part of which featured no dialogue and was left deliberately ambiguous - was so controversial that McGoohan and his family left the UK for more than 20 years and seek relative anonymity in the USA."

Because I have no personality of my own, I'm changing my name to Number Six or is it Number 6?

I hope he has got specialist advice about computer security systems to work in his defence
against the american government specialists ;
but maybe the legal process wont actually be decided on by the technology or facts of the case; so good luck for a fair trial and result.
Much is made of it in the press and commented on but the Aspergers condition is not the only defence.

I just read an article on the BBC website where it is reported that "naive" Gary is a victim of Asperger's syndrome. Using that as an excuse for his actions seems to me a bit daft. My son and I both have Asperger's. Asperger's has never prevented us from knowing what is right and wrong. We also are obsessive compulsive types and I can understand being engrossed in something for hours beyond what an average person would be. I am quite familiar with networking and IT systems and I don't doubt that I can hack my way around and be malicious if I CHOOSE to do so. The fact is Asperger's doesn't make me do bad things any more than it probably does Gary McKinnon. Gary KNEW what he was doing and that it was wrong but did it anyway until he either was either satisfied or was blocked. He went where he should have never gone. Gary would have had to acknowledge the Department of Defense warning banner before visiting U.S. sites.
"Use of this DoD computer system, authorized or unauthorized, constitutes consent to monitoring of this system. Unauthorized use may subject you to criminal prosecution. Evidence of unauthorized use collected during monitoring may be used for administrative, criminal, or other adverse action. Use of this system constitutes consent to monitoring for these purposes"

He is a sane and competent adult who should be tried as such and face the consequences for his stupid, not genetically induced, actions.

You've got it totally wrong. Gary McKinnon does not use Aspergers as an excuse. Gary McKinnon is asking for the equal right to be tried in the U.K just as every other accused hacker has been, including those British hackers accused of hacking into U.S military systems.

Are you trying to say that someone with Aspergers should have fewer rights than other accused hackers that do not have Aspergers?

Gary McKinnon is asking for equal rights, nothing more and nothing less.
Gary McKinnon has AN EQUAL RIGHT NOT TO BE EXTRADITED.

When arrested in 2002 Mr McKinnon was told that his computers had been monitored and subsequently examined and that he was looking at an approx. sentence of six months community service.
Mr McKinnon has always denied th alleged damage.

Even murderers, war criminals and terrorists don't get sentenced to sixty years, the proposal is one of insanity.

Hopefully President Obama's rule will be one of sanity and proportion in many respects.

So you think you have more knowledge of Aspergers Syndrome than Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and other experts.
If you understood anything about Aspergers Syndrome you would know that there are varying degrees and that each person displays different ways of coping and that some people have significantly more difficulties functioning on a day to day basis than do others.

Gary McKinnon was judged by the experts on an individual basis, as he is an individual and he is possibly not remotely like you although you may have the same syndrome.

You appear to lack insight or understanding regarding the diversity of Aspergers Syndrome and how can you judge someone you've never met.

As was said in the previous post, I hope Gary McKinnon is given equal rights to be tried in his own country, as people with Aspergers Syndrome should have equal rights.

@ Lemluath, you might be the drunk poster from earlier or his/her friend. Next time post the link to the article.

My english isnt good, but for me this is not english. The bbc would not use this on the news.

"..Gary is a victim of Asperger's syndrome"

This text ^ sounds very dumb.