14 DAY TRIAL // Supporters of Gary McKinnon, the English hacker who is to be extradited to the US for trial, have arranged for a protest to take place today at 4 P.M. at the Home Office in London. The governmental division responsible for the prevention of “terrorism, crime and anti-social behavior” is, apparently, the last resort left for the 42-year-old unemployed network administrator.
Last week, his plea of being judged in the UK, on account of having been recently diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, was rejected by the European Court of Human Rights. The condition can make the subjects extremely obsessive, a fairly good explanation for McKinnon's determination to hack into 97 military and NASA computers seven years ago. Until the last minute, the hacker claimed that everything that he ever tried to do was to unveil information on the existence of UFOs, which he believed that the American government was concealing.
Although many said that they would take part in the peaceful demonstration, some believe that the action will have no effect on McKinnon's imminent extradition. Moreover, people believe that UK authorities will allow the protest because they can use it in their own advantage.
“Protests do very little to create change. Most often are actually used by the opposing forces as an intelligence gathering opportunity. Like names and addresses of supporters as well as a demographic representation of supporters. Like level of news media interest, high profile companies involved, the level of education professional persons and an overall assessment of financial backing.” says a user on the webpage especially set up by McKinnon’s advocates.
Others, instead, stick with the idea that the abilities of the hacker, who managed to bypass the most secure systems in the world, should be rewarded and not punished. “I am astounded that Gary McKinnon could be jailed in the USA or anywhere else for hacking into US military computer systems. On the contrary he should be praised and rewarded for exposing security weaknesses in these systems which could have been exploited by any rogue state to the detriment of the free world.” writes a poster.