Hacker Afraid of Extradition to USA 1

Posted by JD 06/09/2009 at 09:17

I saw this story from the BBC today. The headline was Hacker renews extradition fight. After reading the story, I got that he’s afraid to come to the USA.

Gee, I wonder why?

Charges

He allegedly broke into 97 computer systems at NASA and US Navy in 2001-2002 causing $800,000 worth of damage. He claims to have been looking for information on UFOs. British police arrested him in 2002. If convicted, he could face 70 years of imprisonment.

I’m sorry for that

Ship the guy here, put him on trial and, if guilty, send him to prison. Simple. His, “I am sorry for that” doesn’t cover the damages. The fact that he can’t work in IT anymore isn’t anyone’s problem, but his. If he did the crimes, he needs to be punished by incarceration, IMHO. His apology makes me believe he actually did the crime, unless there were circumstances we don’t know about (which is likely).

He claims that being taken from his family is a psychological hardship. Yes, it is. He’s going to be in prison where you have to do what you are told and normal freedoms are removed. Isn’t that the point? He should be happier that the time would be spent in lush federal prisons, not cheap state prisons.

Actions have consequences.

At age 42, he should have learned that already. If I hacked into a British military system, I would expect to be caught, extradited, tried, and, if found guilty, serve a sentence in a prison. Duh. Hackers should know by now that you always jump through systems in countries that aren’t friendly to your target system/country. Don’t do any damage to the middle systems. If you don’t know how to accomplish that, you have no business attempting the break in.

Reporters in North Korea

This article is about the reporters who were convicted of entering North Korea illegally while filming at the Chinese border in March 2009. I have to assume they did this act. Entering any country illegally has consequences. They knew that. Both Ms Ling and Ms Lee had to know they were doing something illegal (though ignorance is no excuse). The article says they would be sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labour”. This seems an excessive time to me, but I don’t make the laws of North Korea. If that is the normal penalty, they should serve it. I’m disappointed that the USA government is asking for their release. Laws need to be followed regardless of who you are or who you know.

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  1. JD 06/16/2009 at 09:59

    More information has come out about the journalists in North Korea, but none of the new data says they didn’t violate the border. They’ve admitted they are guilty, but we can’t be certain that wasn’t forced. OTOH, how did the North Koreans capture these two? Did they come across the Chinese border and take them? Probably not.

    Normal penalties for this crime are 6-10 years and they’ve been sentenced to 12 years. That sentence seems excessive. 8 years would have made the same point and showed some leniency.

    — 7/31/09 update
    71% of UK Hackers don’t think the UK Cracker should be extradited.
    http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2009/07/mckinnon-loses.html

    Countries have treaties to prevent criminals from one country hiding in their country. Just like free speech, these treaties should almost always be honored to prevent criminals from “hiding out” in your country or mine.