As part of the warm up for a forthcoming music track / compilation CD, involving some Famous Musicians, in support of Gary McKinnon's legal fight against extradition to the USA, there will be a live "sing in" tomorrow at the US Embassy in London, starting at 11am.
You can download the backing track and the lyrics to "Chicago / We can change the world", which have been re-written by Gary's mother, Janis Sharp, with the permission of Graham Nash.
http://www.londontv.net/nash.html
See the previous blog entry David Gilmour to sing on "Chicago" protest song in support of Gary McKinnon for the lyrics.
We are under no illusions that President Barack Obama will be allowed within earshot of any members of the British public during his G20 summit visit, but there will be people in his entourage of advisors, who might be reminded of their own Chicago community politics background.
Hopefully there will be some mainstream media coverage, especially as tomorrow is also the United Nations World Autism Awareness Day.
Date: Thursday 2nd April 2009
Time: 11am
Location:
Embassy of the United States of America,
24 Grosvenor Square
London
W1A 2LQ
Media contacts: email info@FreeGary.org.uk for contact names and mobile phone numbers etc.
Location Maps:
Some advice about demonstrations in central London -
N.B. the section on taking photos, where the law has recently been changed since the last public demonstration of support for Gary McKinnon:
Photography
Amateur and even professional press photographers are all too frequently illegally harassed by jobsworth public officials and security guards, partly as a result of the Home Office's "climate of fear" anti-terrorism propaganda.
There are no laws which prevent you taking photos at the demonstration (ideally, if it is to have any effect, the mainstream media should be present), and the US Embassy is not anything special as a building, except that it is the sovereign territory of our major ally.
Unfortunately, now, unlike the previous demonstrations in support of Gary McKinnon, there is now a new law in force, which has amended the Terrorism Act 2000, to make it a serious criminal offence (10 years in prison) for "eliciting, or attempting to elicit information", which might, at some time in the future, be of some use, to some unspecified terrorist, somewhere in the world. This applies to current or former, Police Constables (but not Police Community Support Officers - PCSOs) , and to members of the armed services, or the intelligence agencies. How you are actually meant to know who is a former member of the UK intelligence agencies, is a mystery.
This draconian power applies to taking photographs of Police Constables anywhere (even when they are at home), but obviously, also when they are on duty at a demonstration.
No Police Community Support Officer or private security guard or any US Embassy staff (outside of the Embassy grounds) has any power to seize your camera or mobile camera phone.
Even if you are arrested, the Police Constables (not PCSOs or private security guards who have no powers of arrest) have no power to delete digital photos etc. even if they have seized your camera or mobile phone, since that would be tampering with evidence.
Conversely, there are no laws to prevent the Police or security guards from taking photos or video of you, either.
Terrorism Stop and Search harassment
All of London within the M25 orbital motorway appears to be an area, designated in secret, where Police constables in uniform (and Police Community Support Officers in uniform, but only under the direct supervision of a Police Constable, not on their own), can conduct Terrorism Act 2000 section 44 stops and searches, without reasonable suspicion.
The US Embassy is one of the top terrorist targets in Europe, let alone the UK, and so it does have armed Police guards.
The Metropolitan Police Constables in Uniform (not any plain clothes police) can stop you and search you, supposedly for weapons or explosives or anything that might be used for terrorism (i.e. just about anything). Despite tens of thousands of such stops and searches, they have never caught a real terrorist as a result.
If you are stopped and searched under normal Police powers, where there is some "reasonable suspicion", then you do have to give your name and address. If you refuse to do so on the street, then you will be dragged back to a Police station for fingerprint etc. checks on your identity
If you are stopped and searched under Terrorism Act section 44, without reasonable suspicion, then you do not have to give your name and address.
You have to be given a Stop and Search form, stating where, when, and by whom you have been stopped, and under what law. However, if you do not demand one, then you will not necessarily be given such a form.
What the Police and PCSOs often try to do, during such searches, is to copy, or at least rifle through, any wallet or notebook or mobile phone address books, credit cards etc. which you might have on your person, so do not bring private stuff with you on such a demonstration.
What to bring on a demonstration
- A sense of humour.
- Several friends and supporters.
- Press and Broadcast journalists and reporters.
- Posters, banners, leaflets, petitions etc.
- If you smoke, something to collect and extinguish your cigarette butts in - Westminster Council bylaws and Government Anti-social behaviour laws and policies, could allow various public officials to slap you with a £60 Fixed Penalty Notice for littering if you throw you cigarette butt onto the ground.
- Something (non-alcoholic) to drink and eat etc.
- An umbrella (this is London).
- Cameras and video recorders
- Spare batteries and USB or other memory devices for digital cameras and mobile phone cameras.
- Contact details of firms of legal solicitors who deal with human rights issues and arrests at demonstrations e.g. Bindmans - telephone: 020 7833 4433 or Kaim Todner - telephone: 020 7353 6660 (Gary McKinnon's solicitors)
- N.B. Unlike the demonstration at the Home Office, loudspeakers / loud hailers etc. are not banned in Grosvenor Square. (non-amplified megaphones are not banned in either place) - some of Gary's supporters have loud enough voices not to actually require megaphones !
What NOT to bring to a demonstration
- Alcohol - even Police Community Support Officers now have powers to confiscate alcohol within a Dispersal Zone. All of the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden are now such Dispersal Zones.
- Being seen to be drinking alcohol on Transport for London Tubes or Buses is also now banned.
- Illegal drugs - obviously.
- Personal address and contact books or Mobile Phones or Personal Digital Assistants containing contact names, addresses, email, phone etc. details - jobsworth PCSOs and Police constables often attempt to rifle through these, during "stops and searches", even when they often have no proper legal power to do so.
- If you must bring your normal mobile phone with you, then you should set a security PIN code, for both for the power on and keyboard locks, which might prevent arbitrary snooping, but which will not, of course, prevent forensic examination of the phone if you are arrested.
the rich eating the poor, no protests for the poor as usual.
mckinnon is guilty.
To have left systems wide open and then when someone access cry abuse is the same as a stupid woman who lacks the mental fortitude to say no to an abuse - then crys out abuse. Grow up and take ownership and responsibility for your actions USA, try being a real leader - show all the rest in the world what ihe defining characters of a 'man' is. Show our kids how to be a real man. Take ownership of your share in the crime and corruption. Can anyone answer me why the same laws do not apply to the military admins who left the whole security on default - wide open - prior during and post 9 one one? Has any of these guys been charged with anything? Huh?
Elle
McKinnon is poor! and most British rock musicians have been poor and know how to stand up for their own as they've had to do it all of their lives.
Musicians have always fought for Justice and have woken up the masses when they've been asleep. Just as is beginning to happen now and about time too.
To CS: There were massive protest for the poor today, have you been asleep? or are you perhaps living in another country?
Thousand of people were on the streets of London to protest. Were you?
You had better sing pretty damn loud guys! You know how hard of hearing politicians are when it comes to our citizens....come on gary supporters we need to be heard, the boys who stormed the RBS sure did just that.
PS Jaqui Smith is about as corrupt as they get. Just an Ann Summer addict.
Matt T - what did the so-called "storming" of RBS achieve, who has benefitted, and what do you see changing as a result?
Yesterday I was informed that $3 Million dollars went missing out of the Canadian Revenue Agency recently. It was found to have ended in the pockets of previous government employees - who simply cut themselves a check curtesy of the Canadian taxpayers.
So when I talk about open governments and such - don;t get me wrong. All the government systems should be open for public scrutiny, ESPECIALLY all accounting records.
Perhaps the real embarassement regarding the Gary McKinnon case to the US is the possibility that he viewed such documents outlining the missappropriation of funds. Maybe this is why they are so paranoid and placed a news ban and are trying to put Gary away for an outrageous period of 70 years.
They are obviously not looking for compensation for the military system access - if they were - they would have criminally and civily charged the administrators and security staff. But they did not. And if they were so concerned with security, why was the entire .mil network on default prior during and post 911?
Ok Elle,
I will try to be nice here but you really make it tough.
As it was explained to me. The US Government would buy thousands of servers from a single distributor...cough..Dell.
These servers and computers came pre-installed with..back then Windows NT or Windows 2000 which had a default "Blank" password. Side note, Windows XP and Server 2003 still have this blank password vulnerability, but you can not remotely connect to an account that has a blank password.
The system administrators took these servers/computers and added/authenticated them to the Domain network.
Now..Elle, if you have been involved in computers for the 20+ years, you may understand that System Administrators who are responsible for replaces thousands of servers/computers on the military network which consists of hundreds of thousands computers and servers, there is good chance that they forgot to change the "Local" administrator account password on a percentage of these systems.
Now many of you have to admit, you have no clue what the difference is between a Local Administrator Account and a Domain Administrator Account...Right?
Well Gary understood this. He wrote his simple little scripts to search for this vulnerability and he exploited this for personal and malicious reasons. He used these neglected systems to further his intrusion into these networks and used the stolen passwords contained in these systems to use them against properly protected systems.
Gary's so called personal search for information did attract the US Government's attention early on in his endeavors as he completed each intrusion into the Navy, the Army, the AirForce and of course NASA networks. Each Computer Crime Investigations Units in each of these organizations had open and active cases that documented Gary's violation of US Criminal Code.
These Investigators responded to each report of intrusion and each report of system sabotage, collecting evidence and following the electronic trail that Gary left behind despite his trivial efforts to delete the logs. Even when he intentionally deleted operating system files to disable the Domain Controllers an left behind his personal note. These investigators continued to respond, collect evidence and coordinate the law enforcement effort that eventually found their target.
These agencies traced his attempt to bounce through civilian computer systems before he attacked US Government systems and ultimately traced him to his Internet Service Provider that he was dialing into.
It was the responsibility of the UK authorities to trace him in their country which eventually led them to his girlfriends flat. The UK authorities would only do this after the US Agencies provided them the proof of the criminal offenses that Gary committed. You can almost imagine the pressure that was being put on these US Investigators and the UK investigators as Gary disabled whole networks for days.
Can you people even comprehend what it would be like for you to be disconnected from your email or the Internet for 3 days? Ask yourself, how mad would you be to loose a primary tool that allowed you to do your work.
Thousands of man hours expended. Thousands of man hours wasted waiting on repairs of Gary's malicious activities.
Such malicious criminal activity can never go unpunished. This is what my research has shown me. All of your posts are but a chapter in the anomaly that is the human psyche. You cherry pick those facts that support your beliefs and make up new facts to strengthen your beliefs.
When it is all said and done, there is the truth and if there is still a sense of justice in the world there will be punishment.
@ Eyes4Lies - you are not an impartial researcher, you are also cherry picking your facts to fit your own prejudices.
Any competent email systems, even those which ran on Windows NT or 2000, would have had Local Administrator passwords set, especialy in a Domain - that is standard operating procedure and is clearly in the manufacturers instructions.
The NetBIOS ports 135, 139 and the later port 445 used by Windows for filesharing, should have been blocked by internet firewalls, but they obviously were not.
Any misconfigured NT systems should not have gone undetected for so many *years* - any commercial or even free, computer security auditing software would have picked this up immediately.
It is inconceivable that no such vulnerability scans were run by US military personnel or civilian contractors, so the question which will be asked in court is why were the results ignored ? Incompetence, corruption or treason by the senior managers and officials and politicians ?
Given the number of other people who appear to have been exploiting this utter lack of security, remotely via the internet, then the task of proving, beyond reasonable doubt, that nobody else could have done the alleged damage, is going to be hard for any prosecutors, unless they can show tamperproof i.e. independently cryptographically digitally signed and timestamped log files, which I doubt they will be able to do.
3 hours down time would be more usual, rather than 3 days, if there was a proper backup in place, so again, serious questions should asked about the competence of those individuals senior managers in charge of these systems.
The time / date / IP address / land line phone number /address evidence which might tie Gary, rather than anyone else in the world, to any particular illegal activity in the USA is here
in the United Kingdom, not in the USA.
The United Kingdom legal system is perfectly capable of punishing any such alleged activity proportionately, you have never made out a convincing case for extradition to the USA.
Mutual Legal Aid requests between the UK and USA (or other) law enforcement authorities do *not* require actual proof of criminal offences, only allegations or "intelligence".
If the US authorities had such proof, or even prima facie evidence, then they could have submitted it to the Extradition hearings if they had chosen to do so. They are not forbidden from doing so under the Extradition Act 2003, but they chose to only present unsubstantiated allegations, as the Act allows them to do.
Eyes4Lies, he shouldnt go unpunished but you conveniently forget about one important thing: perspective.
70 years is a long time for a mass murderer let alone a guy with a kiddie script searching for UFO's. One year in a UK jail at the very most is fair enough methinks.
Can you people even comprehend what it would be like for you to be disconnected from your email or the Internet for 3 days? Ask yourself, how mad would you be to loose a primary tool that allowed you to do your work. ->
gee it would be life shattering?! My internet comes and goes as it pleases but I have measures to cope. You keep harking on about malicious activity. He was hardly trying to raid bank accounts or set off nuclear warheads. If there is sense of justice then he would not be facing 70 years, rapists would have their nuts cut off, and murderers would be stoned to death.
We all know you have ties with the US government, just shut yer cakehole we have heard it all before. The guy is not trying to avoid any sort of punishment, he just wants people to see things in perspective and consider ALL facts not just what they pick and choose to soothe their ego's.
America is a joke (no offence to their decent citizens this is not directed towards you), bloated, overrated and soon to be pushed aside by China.
And to prove I am not being discriminate against america, the UK is the even worse puppet on a string, and yes I am a UK citizen.
Gordon Brown at the G20 made me sick. Jaqui Smith, who made all those claims for a second home that she doesnt even live in and for porn movies for her husband, and likes to go shopping at Ann Summers. Yes that is the woman who decides whether, in effect, Gary is to live or die.
Excellent comment from fg, Matt, Elle etc.
It's perfectly obvious that people that come onto a website designed to support Gary and come on all the time in an attempt to destroy Gary, have their own agenda /the agenda of the U.S prosecutors..
Your rhetoric stands out a mile whether you have a stupid childish name like eyes for lies, or use a name that does not reflect your gender.
British people can see through you instantly and your overkill and out of proportion immature talk does not wash, it just shames you and it's people like you that give Americans a bad name throughout the world.
Get over the fact that U.S military security is so crap that someone on a dial up machine in his bedroom seven years ago could walk straight in.
You appear to have traitors in your midst! Are you one of those traitors in the U.S military, trying to cover up for the other traitors who are your accomplices?
If not, you would be screaming to have those that left America unprotected taken to task.
You are under suspicion.
Hello Matt T, Laura and of course fg.
Let's see if we can discuss this rationally. I am not going to waste time with HTML tags so lets handle the quotes with "quotation marks"
fg wrote: "Any competent email systems, even those which ran on Windows NT or 2000, would have had Local Administrator passwords set, especialy in a Domain - that is standard operating procedure and is clearly in the manufacturers instructions."
I asked this question. The answer I got was that the email servers and domain controller were configured properly but Gary used stolen passwords from workstations that were not configured properly.
fg wrote: "3 hours down time would be more usual, rather than 3 days, if there was a proper backup in place, so again, serious questions should asked about the competence of those individuals senior managers in charge of these systems."
It takes more than three hours just to collect the evidence. The three days is what it takes to reinstall the OS on three servers, restore the back up of an exchange server, domain controller and backup domain controller for a large domain. It still takes a day to backup or image a 1 TB hard drive. Yes their Business Continuity Plan was lacking, but in 2001 that was not a priority.
fg wrote: "The United Kingdom legal system is perfectly capable of punishing any such alleged activity proportionately, you have never made out a convincing case for extradition to the USA."
Matt T wrote: 70 years is a long time for a mass murderer let alone a guy with a kiddie script searching for UFO's. One year in a UK jail at the very most is fair enough methinks."
Ok fg and Matt T, this has been posted, discussed and you both know that the UK declined, said no, won't do it...am I typing English here? The horrible number of 70 years is what Gary could get if...and this is such a big if that it is so unlikely it is not even worth giving much effort in discussing the subject...the jury finds him Guilty on all counts and the judge decides that the sentence runs consecutively. But you do have Gary to blame for racking up so many charges during his intentional and malicious endeavor.
Matt T wrote: "We all know you have ties with the US government, just shut yer cakehole we have heard it all before. The guy is not trying to avoid any sort of punishment, he just wants people to see things in perspective and consider ALL facts not just what they pick and choose to soothe their ego's."
Ok Matt T, it is obvious that my Cakehole, Piehole...i.e. mouth is shut buy my finger continue to write the truth. What he wants is to commit his crimes, be judged by a society that is not victimized by his crimes and get community service or as your country is so fond of handing out...adult caution...Wooo!!! there is a deterrent to crime if I ever saw one.
Laura wrote: "You appear to have traitors in your midst! Are you one of those traitors in the U.S military, trying to cover up for the other traitors who are your accomplices?
If not, you would be screaming to have those that left America unprotected taken to task.
You are under suspicion. "
??????....I have no idea what your logic track is her, but that has never been a problem on this website. I am sure you and Elle have exchanged alien abduction stories.
I did enjoy all of your posts, the only counter to facts and truth is to deny, counter accuse and resort to personal attacks. Thank you for confirming my position in this matter.
It's good to note these were all windoze systems. Just about all Linux systems cannot installed with default/blank passwords. Also windose does not really encrypt the passwords it just hashes them and they are stored in registry...
@ Eyes4Lies; What are you trying?
You ever looked on such messages/informations:
http://p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/freegary/2009/03/judicial-review-of-gary-mckinnons-extradition-case-dates-tuesday-9th-june-and-we.html#comment-277114
AND
Why do they have changed the law?
How do you know there is damage?
Where is the evidence (you know about it)?
...
- You are trying to make us believe that sick people are healthy.
- Your'e out somehow on money or just supporting the criminal/evil insiders.
- Your'e making us believe in lies (caried out by others..).
- You are atacking people's post to prefer something bad for humanity.
i's f lies is so obviously part of a PR campaign against Gary and spends so much time on this website that it's obvious what his agenda is.
Incredible the amount of time they'll spend on attacking Gary McKinnon rather than trying to track down the real terrorists that they say are out there.
Wouldn't you think any government would be spending all their time trying to nail murderers, rapists, child abusers etc but no! They usually get a sentence of a few years if sentenced at all but governments are much more concerned about saving face than about saving people.
Gary McKinnon was thirty five years old when this all started, he's now 42/43 years old and we've had about four Home secretary's since then and soon to have another by the looks of it.
The vindictiveness of the pursuit of Gary and the years and money put in to attempt to extradite him is ludicrous.
If a child disappears they usually search for them for a few weeks & drop it, because they care so little for our children.
They are turning Gary into a martyr and a hero so I suppose that's cool but incredibly stupid on their part.
Article in Todays Sunday Post Re-American Embassy "Sing In" Re-Gary.
http://www.sundaypost.com/news2.htm
Gary's supporters also attended last Saturdays march for Justice which ended in Hyde Park and which thousands of people attended.
Many protested for Justice, many for Climate change and many for Jobs.
An extremely Peaceful protest.
If Gary McKinnon believed that 9/11 was an inside job, "which he did". He would have been completely irresponsible not to have left messages on U.S military computers telling them tghat their security was crap....not to have left messages saying he believed that 9/11 was n inside Job....Not to have left messages saying that he believed "It was no accident there was a stand down after 9/11"....not to have left messages saying that "he would continue to disrupt at the highest leveluntil he was listened to."
Gary's disruption was the messages he left and continued to leave the year after 9/11.(Not immediately after 9/11 as prosecutors mislead people to believe)
These messages were all separate messages and not one message as the prosectors try and mislead people to believe.
....and Gary's point as to "why wasn't normal protocol followed when planes, one heading for the Pentagon, flew of course for twenty minutes?
Why were fighter planes not sent up to monitor the pilots and the passengers and to make them force land(as is normal protocol)?
Fighter Planes should have been sent up within minutes but not one Fighter jet was sent up at all.
Gary McKinnon is a UFO truthseeker and a Cyber Peace Protestor and for this he is being crucified!
Wake up People! Look at 9/11 on the internet.
Go to www.jerrypippin.com and learn the truth.
because they are the system.
The Register has some photos of the "sing in" event at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/mckinnon_extradition_musical_protest/
@ Eyes4Lies
In other words no VLAN security or separate (non-internet connected) management workstations either ! Completely unprofessional for a system of more than trivial size or importance, even back in 2001.
Just in case anyone is confused by Eyes4Lies' weasel worded use of "stolen passwords":
"Stolen" implies theft, which in legal terms means actual permanent deprivation or removal of physical goods. This concept does not apply to the copying of information or data, leaving the originals intact, something which has been exercising the music and film copyright industry lawyers for decades.
Passwords have no monetary financial value in themselves. They may even be found to be illegal under copyright or obscenity or defamation laws, were they ever to be published (insults and swear words are very often used, as they tend to be memorable).
Having access to the top level administration credentials i.e. the Local Administrator account (with the default null blank password) means that you have access which is indistinguishable from legitimate systems administration access to those passwords, and to the systems they supposedly protect.
UK law deals with this issue not by pretending that you have committed a financial monetary crime if you have been given, or can easily guess a supposedly secret password, but under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 section 2 Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences.
Any weak Systems Administrator passwords should also have been prevented by regular security audits and standard operating procedures.
Why were these either not run, or if they were run, why were they ignored, and by whom ?
Was this due to incompetence, corruption or treason ?
Then the people who made that stupid management decision also deserve to be named, shamed and punished.
Eyes4Lies
Dell?...uhhhhh, you have my condollences...US...but thank you for the info
You say it was explained to you, but obviously information was left out or otherwise embelished. Right from the start I can say that knowing that a workstation can be logged into remotely tells me many things. Considering the OSI model, the network hardware ( physical layer ) probably consisted of one not two network interface cards installed into the workstation and so the configuration was probably a ring style lan. Consider also that that workstation had full independant access to the open internet so everything could have gone through either the domain controller or a switch or a router. Either way there was a gateway present and whichever piece of hardware was employed as a gateway, is arbutrary. Obviously there were no proxy, filters or firewalls or intrusion detection systems in place unless they were missconfigured. And as you say the administrators took these servers/computers and added/authenticated them to the domain network - they obviously did not know what they were doing then.
Now, Eyes4Lies, even if they forgot a handfull of administrator accounts on the workstations, if the domain controller had been configured properly as you say your sources claim, they would have applied privleges to accounts and filters to connections at the very least. Right?
Also, for your information, programs ( scripts ) that test systems security such as default accounts, are widely available to system administrators, they are more commonly known as penetration testing applications. They are used to test such things as password strengths and checking running services, excetera. The security chiefs for the military must have been aquainted with these tools but failed also to test their own network. Ooops.
You claim also that Gary 'used the stolen passwords' to...Well, if this were true, that critical server passwords were kept on workstations, then that would be the first time I have ever heard of this. Secondly if the 'properly protected systems' were indeed properly protected, then how could someone log straight into the inside network from a workstation using a default administrator account in the first place? Duh.
Given also that there must have been a virtual private network placed onto the missconfigured workstation operating system - it made it extremely important for security reasons that systems needed to be configured properly and tested. No?
You say that investigators responded to each intrusion, collecting evidence, following the electronic trail - even when he left behind his personal note. OK - so you say that they 'let' Gary snoop around the entire web of networks for how many years? Was it one, two or was it three years? And did nothing? Ya, OK. That is believable. And that they claim he disabled a Domain Controller? Haha, right - more like a desperate employee pulled a plug, or tried to dissable a service and screwed it up, given their level of expertice.
Is it not a fact that the note Gary left for the Admins notifying them their security was a problem, is not something that a person would do who had bad intentions? Would a terrorist do that? No. Given that Gary was shortly afterward arrested from when he wrote the note, tells me that the security was so bad that logs were rarely reviewed by the administrators and/or that the only way they could identify the IP was from the note.!
Which brings me to annother critical point. If Gary was a terrorist - why was he not trying to conceal his IP? There are countless ways to conceal an IP. Remote or transient connection, satelite uplinks, unused chineese IP's, onion routers, reverse proxies, just to name a few. But instead he insisted to use his girlfriends mothers dial up connection. C'mone, he didn't even use an alternate dial-in host.
In closing - if it was me - I would place my interest in the 'real' terrorist out there that, due to the outrageous lack of security on the military systems - some one malicious got in and gathered information on military war games and used it against the US, killing people and destroyuing property. How about that? And when you think of the profile of the person who did this - it tells you that they did not linger around for a long time on the system. They most likely had their IP concealed, and exscaped attention. Not likely they left a note. The real terrorists are professionals. And they had bad intentions, inside job or outside job regardless.
Finally, Eyes4Lies, You a researcher? If I was you I would double check my sources, and conduct more research. The information you relay is inacurate, thus, you inadvertiently have become the instrument of heresay and gossip. Spreading rumors ond lies, which results in mass confusion and false representation of Gary McKinnon. Unless that is your purpose and you are not a 'real' researcher, but instead a spin doctor.
Elle
thank you Elle and fg x
EYE4LIES stop the smartass talk, it really doesnt wash with people who are not open to suggestion. Eyes4Lies I assume your 'research' goes about as far as wikipedia :D
Ellie, no point arguing with that idiot because in the end it will just go round in circles. Just like them brainwashed zealots at jesus camp, they will only hear what they want to hear, rationality and logic aisde.
I have received a letter from Domonic Grieve shadow secretary state for justice. In it it states that the torys have tried to get a balance to this one sided extradition, for May of this year but were once again overuled by memebers of this government.
This would allow a judge to rule that if a significant part of the offence occured in Britain then extradition would be barred.
Good Luck Gary
Maggie
I also have a letter from Dominic Grieve saying he would not be signing Early Day Motion 2388 and that Gary's crimes are serious and he should face extradition.
David Cameron put out a letter with exactly the same content and it was passed onto other Conservative MP's as Tory policy.
I only found this out when my own MP answered with "exactly" the same response as David Cameron.
Can you email the Free Gary Website with a copy of your letter, as they have all basicxally judged Gary guilty of the alleged Damage (which Gary denies)
As the House of Lords did the same as did the DPP and it was online, this prevents Gary from having a fair trial anywhere in the world.
So extradition should be scrapped.
I for one, would sure like to take a look at the "alleged evidence" the US claims. So that I may scrutinize it myself and determine the real truth in the matter. But that is not an option is it? The "evidence" was not required to proceed with an extradition request was it? And, unlkike a fair and just legal proceeding, the "evidence" seems not to be a requirement. nor full disclosure in this case, does it? And that is even legal in the minds of some politicians and officials? What the hell?
So we should really scrap the whole legal system. What is the sense of spending all that money on the courts and lawyers and keeping copys of laws and research. We could just make it law that everyone who is charged with an offence is automatically guilty and no one requires evidence to support the charge so there is no need for lawyers and courts. How about that?
I say again - if the law does not respect you - do not respect the law...
Elle
Happy Easter everyone - whether you're in the UK campaigning for justice for Gary or a Canadian crackpot just along for the ride.
Have a nice weekend...for those of us who don't believe that rabits have eggs or that a man is god...
...and Stu, honey...I have been 'riding it' since zero day...and I am for real... I am the only one who is not afraid to use their real full name on this blog. So go ahead and check my credentials and see if you think I am a crackpot then...
I am here to support Gary McKinnon in any way I can. I have researched the case and his profile and feel this is a man who is not being treated fairly. Sure he was on a military network - who hasn't been - he did no real damage and it was the negligence of the administrators that enabled this, he admits to being there and is willing to pay the price. But the price is unfair. It is not right. This was a non violent crime and he is facing expadition with no evidence required and is looking at 70 years in jail....
I have such a personal interest in this case because it is my field - computers/internet/programming/security
and throughout my entire career, I have seen alot of 'hacking' cases but never have I seen such a harsh sentence being imposed.
Elle
Oh, and lets not forget other embarrassing information.
http://www.google.com/s2/profiles/102754877417976374294
@ Eyes4Lies - rather less embarrassing than your own attempts at "research", which will also be preserved for search engine queries, for the foreseeable future.
Hahaha - Nothing embarassing at all -
Incidently:: this blog is about justice for Gary McKinnon :: not a venue for childish name calling ::
Elle LoL
U.S. Military's Elite Hacker Crew
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2005/04/67223?currentPage=1
"The U.S. military has assembled the world's most formidable hacker posse: a super-secret, multimillion-dollar weapons program that may be ready to launch bloodless cyberwar against enemy networks -- from electric grids to telephone nets."
...
"Verton said the unit's capabilities are highly classified, but he believes they can destroy networks and penetrate enemy computers to steal or manipulate data. He said they may also be able to set loose a worm to take down command-and-control systems so the enemy is unable to communicate and direct ground forces, or fire surface-to-air missiles, for example."
Ok - I just have one question - will they be charged with cyber crime?...or is it 'legal' for them, but 'illegal' for the rest of us?
Elle
Gary is guilty,
He should not be sent here to the US, But why is this all about Gary when many others suffer the same?
Others are even innocent of any crime and have suffered much more than Gary.
This site has hypocrite written all over it.
You probably won’t even post this message as all you are about is Gary. Why not protest against the problem not the single result?
@ Freedom for all - read the comments policy on the left of this web page.
@Freedom for all
Why all this about Gary? It's quite simple really.
These nonsense claims (evidence of UFOs) are nothing more attempt to draw publicity to his case. And it's succeeded.
I'm not sure if it's actually helped him, but it's definitely succeeded. His case made international headlines.
@Gary
Mate, you were practically asking to get caught. I suggest you develop your skills before trying something like this again (assuming you're ever allowed near a computer again!)
i agree it does seem the "rich are eatn the poor".
Pentagon spends $100 million to fix cyber attacks
http://www.technologyreview.com/wire/22407/?nlid=1931&a=f
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the last six months responding to and repairing damage from cyber attacks and other computer network problems, military leaders said Tuesday.
-----
Well, looks like the US is taking the blame afterall...impressive...
Elle
To: Freedom for all: This website is all about Gary because it's the Free Gary website and is intended to support Gary.
It permanently addresses all of the issues regarding Extradition.
Unlike others facing extradition and sentences of a few years, Gary McKinnon faces ten years per count x6 =sixty years imprisonment, so if extradited he faces the very real prospect of dying in an American prison.
There are also links on this website to Brian & Kerry Howes Website, To Sean Garlands Website and to Babar Ahmad's website and to the previous Nat West three Website. Most of whom (if not all) have no links to the Free Gary Website.
Gary & his family always support the others.
Whenever Gary's mother gives interviews to newspapers she mentions other extradition cases and recently asked a Scottish Newspaper to take up the Howes case, which they have informed her they are doing.
In the Press Conference on You Tube Gary's mum Janis openly speaks up for the Howes Family, for Ian Norris and for several others facing extradition and she has never put any others down in any way and is not upset when they get coverage, in fact Gary's family are more than pleased about any coverage anyone facing extradition gets.
Yet you ask on a Free Gary Website why it's all about Gary???? Well that's just silly.
This website was set up specifically to support Gary as he faces the prospect of dying in a U.S prison but links are on it to others facing a similar or lesser fate.
Incidentally, Gary is "Not Guilty" of the alleged crime of damage, without which he could not be extradited but no proof of damage is required under the new extradition treaty.
He's admitted only computer misuse.
Many people believe that others facing extradition are guilty of their alleged crimes but Gary & Family would never judge them guilty publicly or otherwise.
Without evidence, everyone is innocent until proven otherwise.
Now tell me, why do you resent Gary McKinnon being supported on a website run specifically for this purpose.
Perhaps you just don't like Gary?
The fact that Gary walked into Pentagon computers over seven years ago when on a dial up computer in his bedroom. makes American NASA and military security a huge joke.
It turns out that Americans had not been protected for years, both long before and after 9/11. They obviously make up how big and powerful they are, as they're obviously rubbish.
Gary McKinnon was a UFO nut since a child. I'm glad that he also left messages and a cyber peace protest on theit computers, as it's woken me and my buddies up.
As Gary or someone said, why were no fighter jets sent up to intercept the planes that were flying off course for twenty minutes and one for over an hour supposedly?
Planes flying towards the Pentagon and the centre of New York were not intercepted!!!
Normal protocol dictates that jets should fly up and monitor the pilots and passengers if any plane is being flown off course and they would be made to force land or be blown out of the sky if heading towards the Pentagon or New York.
So it's pretty clear to me that Gary was right and that 9/11 was an inside job and that it was no accident there was a stand down after 9/11.
So some in the U.S government or military do seem to be guilty of state sponsored terrorism.
I'm glad Gary disrupted at the highest level by leaving notes telling them that their security was crap, so why did no one listen to him and sort the problem out.
Gary is a cyber Truthseeker and not a criminal. The Human race has always taken risks to seek the truth and challenged the law to bring truth and justice out into the open.
Years before Mathew Bevan hacked/walked into the same military computers and still they were left unsecured by NASA and the military.
Robert Gates said they have tens of thousands of computer intrusions every year and this was long before Gary!!!
So are NASA and the U.S military totally incapable of securing their own systems? Seems like it, so they must be all bluff about their supposed power, apart from the fact that they bomb people other countries on a regular basis.
Their negligence is abominable but the inside job that appears to have occurred is a crime of great magnitude and should be exposed in a court.
They also never mention that WTC Building Seven "fell" down without being hit!!!
Thank God the American government has changed. Well at least I hope it has.
The American Government has advertised for hackers to help them secure their computers.
See Link Below:
http://tinyurl.com/co8vgz
Thats alright, I guess, if your ethical beliefs are such that you have no problem with innocent men, women and children being murdered for control of petroleum oil in foreign undefenseless countries.
I was offered 120,000 dollars per year to do this a couple years ago and when I refused I was beaten by the Canadian RCMP in the middle of the night with a friend of mine who is a sherrif / bailiff and was held in cells over night with no charges no apology no recourse.
Elle
"According to Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, deputy commander for network operations, the money was spent on manpower, computer technology and contractors hired to clean up after both external probes and internal mistakes. Strategic Command is responsible for protecting and monitoring the military's information grid, as well as coordinating any offensive cyber warfare on behalf of the U.S.
Officials would not say how much of the $100 million cost was due to outside attacks against the system, versus viruses and other problems triggered accidentally by Defense Department employees. And they declined to reveal any details about suspected cyber attacks against the Pentagon by other countries, such as China."
http://www.technologyreview.com/wire/22407/?nlid=1931&a=f
Ya - and now they are squabeling over who should head the new IT Security department - an outside source which consists of a REAL PRO or a government employee. Looks to me they are about to make the same mistake again out of greed. Tttsss, whatever::
Elle
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163533/fighter_jet_hack_far_from_first_government_breach.html
Check what happened recently.
There we go. REAL hackers, these are the guys who America should be worrying about. Looks like it confirms what we knew all long, America are going to do nothing about firewalls, they want to make Gary an example to scare people off. IT WONT WORK!
A UFO eccentric smoking pot in a bedroom in London is one thing, Chinese/Russian government funded spies...
You anti-gary lot who keeping harking on about do the crime do the time, just put things into perspective before you keep on with your armchair jury routine ok?
Matt T
Well said, now how to we make Gary's case go away?
Ha HA -Matt -very nice....
Reading a fantastic book.
Incident Response - Investigating Computer Crime
by Mandia / Prosise
There is a definite process for providing valid evidence on an alleged computer crime. One thing that I did not know is that a system requires a complete system backup archived and with a MD5 checksum, that is unaltered, dated, and signed to PROVE the original state of a system prior to attack. I can't see the US capable to provide this - there is a lot of people out there willing to testify that the US Military systems security is crap. And there are numereous hacking cases on record against the US systems.
Elle
Once again, I will say Good Luck Gary. And will sign this time with my full name.
The Americans have supposedly (hmm..) had change with Obama. Hurry up with a damn UK election. Maybe we can have change too. But probably not. Bah. *possibly votes libertarian*
every body in newzealand is behind you gary ,
you were just pushing buttons on a key board .
you didnt hurt anybody .
nasa / usa , had 2 kick up a fuss cause when people find deffinate proof that any government has been withholding free energy technology ,,
well , the powers in the peoples hands ...
non cooperation will cost them billions .
if you do get sent 2 emerica ,
get your mum 2 spread the word 2 every soul on british soil ... boycott work ..
no labour whatso ever ask the people not 2 work 4 as long as your there .
if the masses move 4 you there will be no problem .
all the stress and pressure you are under now ,
may seem massive ,
but the spider thats crawled out from under the stone you lifted will be ,that big that its remembered 4 ever .
It's peculiar how Gary's actions and their implications are seen one way by what seem like rational people-I would include myself here,and another way by the people in power.
It is interesting to see such a disconnect,and ponder it's implications as far as representational government is concerned.
The powers-that-be seem to be representing American interests pretty well.
Where do the interests of the citizen appear in this excercise of power,and does responsible,representational government seem to be an impossible dream/lost cause?
US Cyber-Security "embarrassing"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8023793.stm
http://www.freebabarahmad.com/18.03.09%20%20press%20release.pdf
this page is old news we are now in may
So that the legal team is aware (if they are not already) Federal Rules of Evidence-US require 'originals' to prove crime, however, the exception to computers is that 'any printout or other output readable by sight shown to reflect the data accurately is considered an original.'
Please note: that this would mean the question is indeed - is the evidence produced a fair and acurate representation of the original?
Particularely in a high profile case as this, actual living proof of the original drive image of the computer(s) in question PRIOR to any alleged attack would not likely exist, as most companies, gov's have not the foresight. In the Gary McKinnon case this drive image prior would show that the system was missconfigured and had an active default administration account.
The evidence after an alleged incident should be non other - in my technical mind - than a complete drive image with a date stamp and MD5 checksum. Otherwise it is just too damn easy to have evidence tammpered and fabricated and inacurately assessed or otherwise proving NOT to provide fair and accurate representation of the original.
As you imagine this reduces much 'evidence' to heresay and unsustantiated evidence.
Report: U.S. needs 'transparent' policies for carrying out cyberattacks
http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/4972881/7751022/189085/0/http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/4972881/7751022/189085/0/
"The authors also called on the federal government to conduct "high-level war-gaming exercises to understand the dynamics and potential consequences of cyberconflict." And, they wrote, "U.S. policy-makers should apply the moral and ethical principles underlying the law of armed conflict to cyberattack even in situations that fall short of actual armed conflict."
I would like to know if that will include the defacement of a countries websites that are crying out to the world for help when they are being invaded for oil by the US- and replacing them with pro US propaganda websites?
And also if it again means that 'they' can hack legally but 'we' can not hack legally?
Elle
Advisor: U.S. needs policy to defend cyberspace
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11547/1
“ When I think of deterrence in cyberspace, a lot of what you can do depends on who. If you don't know who is behind the attack, then you can't target their systems as part of a deterrence policy. ”
Oh - and they keep arguing about who will be in charge - the NSA is the favorite - real reason? So that aall the doings can be kept secret from the general public...
Secrecy, here we go again. The idea is if all government activities are secret, then no one will know how much money is spent where and who is being attacked as a 'terrorist' in cyberspace - right? Ingeneous
Elle
The military office at the White House (U.S.A.) took photos of Air Force One flying over monuments in New York City. People freaked and guess what, the photos are now classified. Those photos are a Presidential matter, but to make the embarrassment disappear, they are classified.
This indicates that the N.A.S.A. U.F.O. photos that Gary saw (he probably saw more than the mother ship orbiting mother Earth) are not going to go away, as they say. They're an interesting issue in Gary's matter and I hope they're explored further.
Cyber attack could bring U.S. military response
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/961
The United States' top commanding officer for the space and cyber domains told reporters last week that a cyber attack could merit a more conventional military response.
-------
Oh, this is so ammusing! All the hackers out there are splitting their guts I'm sure... ya and blame it on China, ha ha ha! Real question is, though, what are they so afraid of that would warrent military action? AND how easily could this be abused to initiate inprovoked attacks? I say again - full disclosure is the way to go.
Elle
fg,
I seriously think that you should erase the following word: "stupidity" on the home page in the below statement. Gary's mum used the word about Gary in an interview. But, Gary did the smartest thing imagainable when he insisted upon a signature of an American government official to the plea agreement that the U.S. offered him years ago in their embassy.
President Obama has now flip-flopped on several of his campaign promises. At least one of those concerns Gary. The issue of military commissions and the status of unlawful enemy combatants. The U.S. government has shown that it can't be taken at its word. Gary's insistance upon a signature was brilliant.
What his mum and you are refering to concerning his stupid acts are really what's known as 20-20 hind-sight. Hacking into the U.S. military's computers today, would be stupid. But, Gary didn't do it today. Given his highly intelligent request for a signature, I don't think that what he did 8 or so years ago should be considerd stupid.
Of course, you can't praise him for doing what he did that resulted in him getting in this mess with the Pentagon, but it can't be shown to be stupid, either.
"This blog operates a reasonably tolerant
blog comments policy.
You are free to condemn Gary McKinnon's
past stupidity, and to highlight the need
for appropriate, proportionate criminal
justice, all of which Gary accepts."
Gary, you're not stupid (HBZR4).
I hereby volunteer to be the first person classified as an Un-lawful Enemy Combatant under President Obama's decision of yesterday. I'm also an ex-Army soldier and have been trained for pain, so give it your best America.
I think that Gary should not be sent to the USA - It is their own damn stupid fault for being that easy to hack into. 60 years fot hat when nurderers and rapists get far far less. He will NOT get a fair trial in the USA.
Good luck GARY and I really hope the European court helps you.
You must liberate McKinnon! He was not delete files, because he is a great hacker.
We needed people like Gary in the war at Bletchley Park, Real geniuses. You ought to start the march there first. I am going to bring my family down to Grosvenor Square. Does anyone make banners and stuff for us to hold. ?
Cheers Paul.
Entering an unprotected computer system or workstation just for snooping shouldn't be considered to be a big crime.