McKinnon ain't goin' nowhere

It looks like Gary McKinnon won't be extradited to the United States. The entire episode is a farce of epic proportion. If you're not familiar with the story, here's a brief summary:

A man who was "diagnosed last August [2008] as having Asperger's Syndrome" hacked systems belonging to NASA and the US Navy looking for "classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed." He illegally accessed a total of 97 systems in 2001 and 2002. The US Government claim McKinnon's actions caused $800,000 of damage and wish to prosecute him accordingly.

For me, the key element in this case is that McKinnon used his own email address throughout. Furthermore, as McKinnon used his own email address, it cannot have cost the US Government anywhere near $800,000 to ID him.

There are so many levels of pedantry at work here. The USA got 0wned and they're not happy about it. I understand why they're upset, but why on earth are they making such a big deal of it? If Joe Calzaghe spilled some nobody's pint and got knocked out because of it, he wouldn't sue. He wouldn't get litigious, he wouldn't do a damn thing after the event. He'd take it, like a man, probably buy the bar for the feller in question and move on with a wink and a nod. The last thing he'd do is plaster it all over the news and push for charges to be brought.

The "greatest super power on the face of the earth" got h4x0red, and now they're crying to mummy. What has America come to? The founding fathers didn't sail across the Atlantic so their descendants could piss and whine about some limey exposing their weaknesses.



Author's note: - I don't remember posting this. Quite eloquent for an alcoholic though, if I may say so myself.