Jon Ronson writes in the Gruniad’s online bloggy thing about Gary McKinnon, the hapless “uberhacker” who allegedly perpretrated the biggest cyber-attack into US Military computer systems… ever.
We have been told that computers literally packed in, melting into pools of bubbling molten fluid, or perhaps exploding into a puff of incandessent vapour. Not a shred of data survived the ravages of Mr McKinnon’s merciless hacking. If we are to believe the American allegations, his hacks were as damaging as a tactical nuke a data-centre.
Apparantly he was looking for secret evidence for a UFO conspiracy, and indeed nobody has managed to link him to any terrorist or revolutionary organisations… but thats not stopping a somewhat zany U.S. deparment of justice recomending that he faces a 70 year imprisonment.
As with the NatWest three (who had the good fortune of being able to employ a press-agent with their possibly stolen millions), the Crouch End One will face extradition under the somewhat imbalanced treaty between the U.S.A and dear old Britian.
I think what counts here is not so much wether the man is guilty or not, but wether British citizens (regardless of guilt or innocence) should be exposed to a foreign legal system when our local legal system is perfectly capable of prosecuting such cases.
Given that the crime was committed in the U.K., could he not be tried in the U.K.?
Apparantly there is a new principle which seems to have crept into our legal system: Spesifically that foreign nations seem to believe they have a right to try anybody if harm was caused on their soil, regardless of where the crime was actually committed.
I shudder to think what would happen if we extend this principle to certain members of our own government who may have caused substantial harm to vairous foriegn countries. Wouldnt it be awful if we had to extredite Tony Blair to Iraq to answer for war-crime charges?
How unbearable!
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