Gary McKinnon

McKinnon was born in February 1966 in Glasgow, Scotland. He became interested in computers at the age of 14, when he was given an Atari 400 console.{{cite web|title=Gary McKinnon: Profile|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gary-mckinnon-profile-8212771.html|website=The Evening Standard|date=16 October 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241015231008/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gary-mckinnon-profile-8212771.html|archive-date=15 October 2024|url-status=live}}

The US government accused McKinnon of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers over a 13-month period between February 2001 and March 2002, at the house of his girlfriend's aunt in London,{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/4320901/Gary-McKinnon-profile-Autistic-hacker-who-started-writing-computer-programs-at-14.html |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=Gary McKinnon profile: Autistic 'hacker' who started writing computer programs at 14 |date=23 January 2009}} using the name 'Solo'.

US authorities stated he deleted critical files from operating systems, which shut down the United States Army's Military District of Washington network of 2000 computers for 24 hours. McKinnon also is alleged to have posted a notice on the military's website: "Your security is crap". After the September 11 attacks in 2001, he allegedly deleted weapons logs at the Earle Naval Weapons Station, rendering its network of 300 computers inoperable and paralyzing munitions supply deliveries for the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet. McKinnon was also accused of copying data, account files and passwords onto his own computer. US authorities stated that the cost of tracking and correcting the problems he caused was over $700,000.{{cite web|author=Law Lords Department|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd080730/mckinn-1.htm|title=House of Lords - Mckinnon V Government of The United States of America and Another|website=Publications.parliament.uk|date=30 July 2008|quote=15. ... alleged to total over $700,000|access-date=30 January 2010}}

While not admitting that it constituted evidence of destruction, McKinnon did admit leaving a threat on one computer:

{{quote|US foreign policy is akin to Government-sponsored terrorism these days ... It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year{{nbsp}}... I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/762.html High Court judgment] s. 8}}

US authorities stated that McKinnon was trying to downplay his own actions. A senior military officer at the Pentagon told The Sunday Telegraph: {{quote|US policy is to fight these attacks as strongly as possible. As a result of Mr McKinnon's actions, we suffered serious damage. This was not some harmless incident. He did very serious and deliberate damage to military and NASA computers and left silly and anti-America messages. All the evidence was that someone was staging a very serious attack on US computer systems.{{cite news|last=Sherwell |first=Philip |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5907994/Hacker-Gary-McKinnon-will-receive-no-pity-insists-US.html |title=Hacker Gary McKinnon will receive no pity, insists US |work=The Telegraph|date=26 July 2009 |access-date=30 January 2010 |location=London}}}}

McKinnon was first interviewed by UK police on 19 March 2002 at the request of the US.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/26/gary-mckinnon-extradition-timeline |location=London |work=The Guardian |title=Timeline: Gary McKinnon's fight against extradition to the US |first=David |last=Batty |date=26 November 2009}} He was interviewed again on 8 August 2002, this time by the UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).{{cite web|title=Senior Policeman of the Arresting Hi Tech Crime Unit team describes the prosecution of McKinnon as Spiteful |website=The Register |date=10 May 2010 |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/10/mckinnon_support/}}

In November 2002, McKinnon was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.[http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/cyberlaw/usmck1102vaind.pdf U.S. V. Gary McKinnon - text of Indictment] (PDF). FindLaw.com. The indictment contained seven counts of computer-related crime, each of which carried a potential ten-year jail sentence.

McKinnon remained at liberty without restriction for three years until June 2005 (until after the UK enacted the Extradition Act 2003, which implemented the 2003 extradition treaty with the United States wherein the United States did not need to provide contestable evidence), when he became subject to bail conditions including a requirement to sign in at his local police station every evening and to remain at his home address at night.

If extradited to the US and charged, McKinnon would have faced up to 70 years in jail.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7846442.stm |title=UK | Hacker wins court review decision |publisher=BBC News |date=23 January 2009 |access-date=30 January 2010}} He had also expressed fears that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4712700.stm 'Hacker' extradition case reopens], BBC News, 14 February 2006[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4905036.stm British 'hacker' fears Guantanamo], BBC News, 12 April 2006

Representing McKinnon in the House of Lords on 16 June 2008, barristers told the Law Lords that the prosecutors had said McKinnon faced a possible 8–10 years in jail per count if he contested the charges (there were seven counts) without any chance of repatriation, but only 37–46 months if he co-operated and went voluntarily to the United States. U.S.-style plea bargains are not a part of English jurisprudence (although it is standard practice to reduce the sentence by one-third for a defendant who pleads guilty).McKinnon v Government of the United States of America and another, section 34

McKinnon's barrister said that the Law Lords could deny extradition if there was an abuse of process: "If the United States wish to use the processes of English courts to secure the extradition of an alleged offender, then they must play by our rules."{{cite web |last=Thurston |first=Richard |title=NASA hacker appeals to House of Lords to overturn extradition |work=SC Magazine |date=18 June 2008 |url=http://www.scmagazineuk.com/NASA-hacker-appeals-to-House-of-Lords-to-overturn-extradition/article/111408/ |access-date=2 September 2008}}

The House of Lords rejected this argument, with the lead judgement (of Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood) holding that "the difference between the American system and our own is not perhaps so stark as [McKinnon]'s argument suggests" and that extradition proceedings should "accommodate legal and cultural differences between the legal systems of the many foreign friendly states with whom the UK has entered into reciprocal extradition arrangements".{{cite web|author=Law Lords Department |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd080730/mckinn-2.htm |title=House of Lords - Mckinnon V Government of The United States of America and Another [2008] UKHL 59|website=Publications.parliament.uk |date=30 July 2008 |access-date=30 January 2010}}

McKinnon appealed to the European Court of Human Rights,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7532713.stm |title=Hacker loses extradition appeal |publisher=BBC News |date=30 July 2008 |access-date=15 November 2008 }} which briefly imposed a bar on the extradition.{{cite web|url=http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/media-centre/news/mckinnon-case|title=Latest on Gary McKinnon case|date=4 November 2010|publisher=Home Office|access-date=1 December 2010}}

On 23 January 2009, McKinnon won permission from the High Court to apply for a judicial review against his extradition.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7846442.stm "Hacker wins court review decision"], BBC News, 23 January 2009. On 31 July 2009, the High Court announced that McKinnon had lost this appeal.[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2009/2021.html McKinnon, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Home Affairs] [2009] EWHC 2021 (Admin) (31 July 2009){{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8177561.stm|title=Hacker loses extradition appeal|publisher=BBC News|date=31 July 2009|access-date=30 January 2010}}

In August 2009, Gordon Brown attempted to negotiate a deal to allow McKinnon to serve in the UK any sentence he might receive in the US. The deal was rejected by the US government.{{cite web|first=David|last=Leigh|author-link=David Leigh (journalist)|date=30 November 2010|title=WikiLeaks cables: US spurned Gary McKinnon plea from Gordon Brown|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-cables-gary-mckinnon-gordon-brown|website=The Guardian|archive-url=https://archive.today/20161121182828/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-cables-gary-mckinnon-gordon-brown|archive-date=21 November 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Wikileaks: US 'no deal' to Gordon Brown's plea to keep Scots hacker in UK|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/wikileaks-us-no-deal-to-gordon-brown-s-plea-to-keep-scots-hacker-in-uk-1-836400|website=The Scotsman|date=30 November 2010|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715112052/http://www.scotsman.com/news/wikileaks-us-no-deal-to-gordon-brown-s-plea-to-keep-scots-hacker-in-uk-1-836400|archive-date=15 July 2012|url-status=dead}}

On 16 October 2012, then-Home Secretary Theresa May announced to the House of Commons that the extradition had been blocked, saying that:

Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes. But there is also no doubt that he is seriously ill ... He has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness. Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights.

She stated that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would determine whether McKinnon should face trial before a British court.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19957138 |title=Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May |publisher=BBC News |date=16 October 2012 |access-date=12 February 2017 }} On 14 December, Keir Starmer, the DPP, and Mark Rowley, an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, announced that McKinnon would not be prosecuted in the United Kingdom, because of the difficulties involved in bringing a case against him and the likelihood he would be acquitted of any charge.{{cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|title=Gary McKinnon will face no charges in UK|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/14/gary-mckinnon-no-uk-charges|access-date=14 December 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 December 2012}}

In January 2010, Mr Justice Mitting granted McKinnon a further judicial review of the decision of Home Secretary Alan Johnson to allow McKinnon's extradition. Mitting distinguished two issues which were arguable, the first being whether psychiatrist Jeremy Turk's opinion that McKinnon would certainly commit suicide if extradited means that the Home Secretary must refuse extradition under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (which prevents a public authority from acting in a way incompatible with convention rights). The second was whether Turk's opinion was a fundamental change to the circumstances that the courts had previously considered and ruled upon. Mitting ruled that if the answer to both questions was "Yes", then it was arguable that it would be unlawful to allow the extradition.{{cite web|url=http://www.security.nl/artikel/39229/1/NASA-hacker_McKinnon_kan_VS_toch_vermijden.html |title=NASA-hacker McKinnon kan VS toch vermijden |website=Security.NL |access-date=17 July 2014}}

In early November 2008, eighty British MPs signed an Early Day Motion calling for any custodial sentence imposed by an American court to be served in a prison in the UK.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7707778.stm|title=MPs want UK jail time for hacker|publisher=BBC News|access-date=15 November 2008|date=4 November 2008}} On 15 July 2009, many voted in Parliament against a review of the extradition treaty.{{Cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmvote/90715v01.htm|title=Votes and Proceedings|website=publications.parliament.uk|access-date=21 November 2019}}

In November 2008, the rock group Marillion announced that it was ready to participate in a benefit concert in support of McKinnon's struggle to avoid extradition to United States. The organiser of the planned event was Ross Hemsworth, an English radio host. No date had been set as of November 2008.{{cite news|first=Mark|last=Ballard|title=Marillion to play gig for McKinnon|url=http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/14/marillion-play-gig-mckinnon|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222104552/http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/14/marillion-play-gig-mckinnon|url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2013|work=The Inquirer|date=14 November 2008|access-date=17 November 2008}} Many prominent individuals voiced support, including Sting, Trudie Styler, Julie Christie, David Gilmour, Graham Nash, Peter Gabriel, The Proclaimers, Bob Geldof, Chrissie Hynde, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Stephen Fry, and Terry Waite. All proposed that, at least, he should be tried in the UK.{{cite news|last=McClatchey|first=Caroline|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8181100.stm|title=How Gary McKinnon became a cause celebre|publisher=BBC News|date=4 August 2009|access-date=30 January 2010}}

In August 2009, Glasgow newspaper The Herald reported that Scots entrepreneur Luke Heron would pay £100,000 towards McKinnon's legal costs in the event he was extradited to the US.{{cite news|last=McArdle|first=Helen|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/hacker-backer-pays-100k-to-prevent-mckinnon-us-trial-1.821225|title=Hacker backer pays £100k to prevent McKinnon US trial|work=The Herald|location=Glasgow|date=2 August 2009|access-date=30 January 2010}}

In a further article in The Herald, Joseph Gutheinz, Jr., a retired NASA Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent, voiced his support for McKinnon. Gutheinz, who is also an American criminal defence attorney and former Member of the Texas Criminal Justice Advisory Committee on Offenders with Medical and Mental Impairments, said that he feared Gary McKinnon would not find justice in the US, because "the American judicial system turns a blind eye towards the needs of the mentally ill".{{Cite web|title=I fear Gary McKinnon will not find justice in America|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12380731.fear-gary-mckinnon-will-not-find-justice-america/|access-date=25 September 2021|website=The Herald |date=6 February 2009 |language=en}}

Web and print media across the UK were critical of the extradition.{{cite news|title=US mil still wide open to attack, says reformed hacker|work=The Register|location=London, UK|date=3 September 2008|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/mckinnon_bevan_interview_analysis|access-date=16 November 2015}}

Janis Sharp, McKinnon's mother, stood as an independent candidate in the 2010 general election in Blackburn in protest against the sitting Labour MP Jack Straw, who was Foreign Secretary when the extradition treaty was agreed.{{cite news|title=Mother of 'hacker' to stand in Blackburn|date=11 April 2010|work=Lancashire Telegraph|url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8092573.Mother_of__hacker__to_stand_against_Jack_Straw_in_Blackburn/?action=complain&cid=8453083|access-date=16 November 2015}} She finished last out of eight candidates with 0.38% of the vote.{{cite news|title=Parliamentary Elections 2010: Constituencies: Blackburn|work=Lancashire Telegraph|url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/general_election_2010/constituencies/38.blackburn|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-date=10 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610201639/http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/general_election_2010/constituencies/38.blackburn/|url-status=dead}}

On 20 July 2010, Tom Bradby, ITN's political editor, raised the Gary McKinnon issue with U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron in a joint White House press conference who responded that they had discussed it and were working to find an 'appropriate solution'.{{cite web|url=http://www.londontv.net/cambama-v1.html|title=Tom Bradby Questions the Prime Minister and the President over Gary McKinnon|website=LondonTV.net}}{{cite web|url=http://www.londontv.net/cambama-v3.html|title=Tom Bradby (ITN) Asks hard questions of UK Prime Minister David Cameron over Gary McKinnon and the discussions he had with Obama|website=LondonTV.net|access-date=16 November 2015}}

In August 2009, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour released an online single, "Chicago - Change the World", on which he sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards, to promote awareness of McKinnon's plight. A re-titled cover of the Graham Nash song "Chicago", it featured Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, plus McKinnon himself. It was produced by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Chris Thomas and was made with Nash's support.{{cite web|url=http://www.londontv.net/freegarymckinnon.html|title=Chicago - Change the world. Original song by Graham Nash|website=LondonTV.net|access-date=4 August 2009|archive-date=26 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226005557/http://www.londontv.net/freegarymckinnon.html|url-status=dead}}

McKinnon has admitted in many public statements that he obtained unauthorised access to computer systems in the United States including those mentioned in the United States indictment. He states his motivation, drawn from a statement made before the Washington Press Club on 9 May 2001 by the Disclosure Project, was to find evidence of UFOs, antigravity technology, and the suppression of "free energy", all of which he states to have proven through his actions.[https://www.wired.com/news/technology/internet/0,71182-0.html?tw=rss.technology "UFO Hacker" Tells What He Found], Wired News, 21 June 2006{{cite news

|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19946902

|title=Profile: Gary McKinnon

|date=14 December 2012

|publisher=BBC News

|access-date=1 April 2013

}}

In an interview televised on the BBC's Click programme,{{cite news

|last=Kelly |first=Spencer

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4977134.stm

|title=Hacker fears 'UFO cover-up'

|date=5 May 2006

|publisher=BBC News

|access-date=1 August 2009

}}

he stated of the Disclosure Project that "they are some very credible, relied-upon people, all saying yes, there is UFO technology, there's anti-gravity, there's free energy, and it's extraterrestrial in origin and [they've] captured spacecraft and reverse engineered it." He said he investigated a NASA photographic expert's claim that at the Johnson Space Center's Building 8, images were regularly cleaned of evidence of UFO craft, and confirmed this, comparing the raw originals with the "processed" images. He stated to have viewed a detailed image of "something not man-made" and "cigar shaped" floating above the northern hemisphere, and assuming his viewing would be undisrupted owing to the hour, he did not think of capturing the image because he was "bedazzled", and therefore did not think of securing it with the screen capture function in the software at the point when his connection was interrupted.[http://bbcworld.com/content/clickonline_archive_18_2006.asp?pageid=665&co_pageid=4 The NASA Hacker] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024221521/http://bbcworld.com/content/clickonline_archive_18_2006.asp?pageid=665&co_pageid=4 |date=24 October 2006 }}, BBC Click

On 12 December 2007, BBC Radio 4 broadcast John Fletcher's 45-minute radio play about the case, entitled The McKinnon Extradition.{{cite news |title=The McKinnon Extradition|access-date=21 June 2008 |publisher=BBC |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008g3x2}}

• 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident
• Adrian Lamo
• Babar Ahmad
• David Carruthers
• Peter Dicks
• Richard O'Dwyer
• Christopher Tappin
• Syed Talha Ahsan
• Lauri Love
• Julian Assange
• United Kingdom–United States relations

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{Cite court

|litigants=McKinnon v Government of the United States of America and another

|court=House of Lords

|date=30 July 2008

|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd080730/mckinn-1.htm

}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110701105131/http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/the-autistic-hacker/0 The Autistic Hacker]: Gary McKinnon hacked thousands of government computers by David Kushner, July 2011 IEEE Spectrum

{{wikiquote}}

• [http://freegary.org.uk "Gary McKinnon now offering Search Engine Optimisation services"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310071150/http://freegary.org.uk/ |date=10 March 2020 }}
• [http://www.londontv.net/latestnews.html Support website by Gary McKinnon's mother]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413184837/http://www.londontv.net/latestnews.html |date=13 April 2012 }}
• [http://www.hackervoice.co.uk/show/archive/2007/hackervoiceradio19mar2007.MP3 Hacker Voice Radio interview with McKinnon]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/27/internationalcrime.hacking "The Briton facing 60 years in US prison after hacking into Pentagon"]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4715612.stm Profile: Gary McKinnon]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6fYMzKvXxg Dan Bull—Free Gary] (an open letter to the Home Secretary)
• [http://www.darknet.org.uk/tag/gary-mckinnon/ Coverage of the Gary McKinnon case since 2006]
• [http://www.snotr.com/video/6250 16min video interview on Snotr]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Gary}}

Category:1966 births

Category:21st-century Scottish criminals

Category:Living people

Category:Cybercrime

Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom

Category:Hackers

Category:Criminals from Glasgow

Category:People with Asperger syndrome

Category:Free energy conspiracy theorists