Slashdot Mirror
America Versus the UFO Hacker
Rob writes "Gary McKinnon, still suffering from Asperger's syndrome, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, has one last chance to avoid extradition from the UK to the US to face charges of hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers in search of information on UFOs. Will the new UK government keep its word and help him avoid a savage punishment? The New Statesman has a survey of the history and McKinnon's prospects."
Believe me, a number of people are wishing there was a mod: -1, criticizing cause celebe
He's got Asperger's, and he's a computer nerd with responsibility and boundary issues. We have only to find out that he lives in his Mom's basement and is a chronic masturbator and you pretty much have an iconic /.er. It's really no wonder that he finds sympathy here.
-Styopa
It's more like reaching a hand across the border and taking someone's $100 bill from a table where it was left with nobody nearby
That is nothing like hacking a computer. Finding a bill with nobody around is something innocent. Hacking into a computer is a deliberate action taken in full knowledge that such an action is illegal. Not to mention wrong.
Regardless of one's position on whether hacking laws institute punishments appropriate to the magnitude of the crime, this guy knew the chances he was taking when he chose to break into a foreign government's computer systems. He knew he was breaking the law, and that getting caught could lead to him being removed from his friends and family.
He did it anyway, and now he is bearing the consequences. If he was so worried about it, maybe he shouldn't have committed the crime.
I'm glad to know that anybody who manages to get a script for some antidepressants can also now use them as an excuse for their actions and avoid facing the same consequences that other people might. After all the doctors only ever use them extremely rarely, right? And of course, doctors are not allowed to receive gifts from pharma companies as rewards for writing those scripts.
Fuck you and fuck your whole program. I don't care what kind of looped out crazy bullshit your doctor gave you to munch on, if you commit an act you are responsible.