Slashdot Mirror
Hacker McKinnon To Be Extradited To US
Vainglorious Coward writes "When UK hacker and Asperger's sufferer Gray McKinnon lost the judicial review of his case it seemed likely that he would be extradited to the US to face charges of hacking almost a hundred systems causing $700,000 worth of damage. Today the UK home secretary rejected his last-ditch attempt to avoid extradition adding that 'his extradition to the United States must proceed forthwith.' McKinnon's relatives are expressing concerns for his health, with his lawyer going so far as to claim that extradition would make the 43-year-old's death 'virtually certain.'"
It was a US Marine plane. A USMC EA-6B Prowler, BuNo 163045, from VMAQ-2 caused the Cavalese cable-car disaster on 3 February 1998, accidentally cutting the cables of a ski-lift in Italy during a low level flight in mountainous terrain and killing 20 civilians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable-car_disaster
"Italian prosecutors wanted the four Marines to stand trial in Italy, but an Italian court recognized that NATO treaties gave jurisdiction to U.S. military courts. They stood trial, were found not guilty and the pilot and copilot were kicked out of the Marines. One served time in military prison.
The two men were court-martialed a second time for obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, because they had destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane on the day of the accident. They were found guilty in May 1999; both were dismissed from the service and the pilot received a six month prison term. He was released after four and a half months for good behavior.
By February 1999, the victims' families had received $65,000 per victim as immediate help by the Italian government, which was reimbursed by the U.S. government. In May 1999, the U.S. Congress rejected a bill that would have set up a $40 million compensation fund for the victims. In December 1999, the Italian legislature approved a monetary compensation plan for the families ($1.9 million per victim). NATO treaties obliged the US government to pay 75% of this compensation, which it did."
So...Italy let them go, there were trials, one was found guilty of something, tossed in prison, career destroyed, felon, all that and the families got 1.965 million US each.
More to the point, are the people who put into place the security of the computer systems also being tried for either (a) failing to put adequate security in place or (b) aiding and abetting a criminal to break in by not ensuring the security was good enough? If not, why not?:
As to why Asperger's suffering has to do with it. Ever tried to live as one? It ain't easy; particularly the tendency to focus on one thing trait means that it is very easy to not realise what is going on around you. And also the trait to accept as truth the first information on something and to reject new information on that subject (the trait of not liking/being unable to stand change) - even if the new information is correct.
Also, if the recent increase in violence is being blamed on video games, consider that the film War Games does a nice job of glamorizing breaking into a computer system and shows that breaking into computer systems for non-malicious reasons is ok. (Not saying that he's seen the film, but if he has, his logic tells him that there is no problem with cracking into a computer system looking for innocent information - he'll be glorified at the end of it.)