Asperger's defense fails Hacker gets 20 years

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Well, having Asperger's doesn't mean you're ret*d or unable to oversee the possible consequences of your actions. It's not exactly an excuse.

Yes and your point is?

There is no comparison:
Albert Gonzalez was a criminal intent on stealing money deliberately stealing passwords and breaking encryption to achieve his goal.
That said 20 years is a bit strong it's more than you are likely to serve (not sentence) for murder!
Gary McKinnon looked at files on unsecured computers seeking information about UFO's he did not do this for financial gain.

Personally I would give McKinnon a Medal and a big computer and let him show the US government what hacking is!

Last edited by iceb on 29 Mar 2010, 3:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think it's really shocking that they are treating him so badly.
He DEFINATELY shouldn't be sent to America, where he can't even see the people he's familiar with, and I'm not sure I agree with him being in prison at all.
He's just a computer geek. He's NOT dangerous!

I used to work with a man who had worked at a place where a new system had been installed, and it was said to be "hack proof". Thinking he was doing the company a favor, he found a way in and printed out a list of salaries, then handed it to the CEO and made some security suggestions.

He was fired on the spot.

New system is a bit of a giveaway :)
Well anything is 'hack proof" if nobody trys to hack it.

the article says that Gary hasn't been sentenced yet. He's trying to use his AS as an excuse, but that doesn't mean the judge has to pay attention to it. This case sets a precendent that having aspergers is not a get-out clause, so Gary's defence is looking a lot more shaky.

I thought it was about another person. First they mentioned him and then they talk about another aspie who did the crime except he stole money this time vs Gary hacking into the system looking for UFO info but didn't steal anything.

pandd was being nice, Beth, as she didn't want to point out your comprehension of the topic if you had read the article.
Merle

Okay but I did read it but I don't know what I missed then. My comprehension is poor.

I just found some guy on youtube that's made remixes to songs using footage of the gary mackinnon triall with a few other bits thrown in to do with aliens and UFO's.
They're pretty good actually.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCmj-DQfEEE[/youtube]

AS aside, I have something of a problem with throwing long prison sentences at computer offenders, I don't think it serves societies interests. We're talking a non-violent class of offender that incarceration will very likely damage beyond repair and who will then emerge as actual threats to society. I prefer the idea of putting them on electronic "chain gangs", make them work as "white hats" or coding grunts to repay the damage they did, plus when they got out they'd have marketable skills and could more easily rejoin society.

[quote]Except that it ISNT appropriate if the punishment is worse than that received by any other person. Two identical crimes, one NT criminal, one autistic criminal. Both receive ten years for their crime in a standard average prison.... the autistic one is going to suffer MORE than his NT equivalent. This is not to say that people should go unpunished, but that the punishment should remain appropriate. Consider, would it be "fair" or "justice" to imprison someone in a wheel-chair and make them serve the exact same sentence as someone with the use of their legs, in the same prison, without the chair? Disabilities should be taken into account when considering sentencing. They should also be taken into consideration when someone disabled is IN the justice system or the penal system.

It would be considered torture to force a normal prisoner to endure a high-frequency noise 24hrs a day whilst incarcerated. Try asking the "warden" to turn the air-con off, see how far you get. (Picking a random autistic tendency.) Read the threads.. there are HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of threads from people saying how much they hate x sound or y amount of physical contact, how much pain it causes them to endure z event... placing them in a situation where they are FORCED to endure such things with no recourse to stop it is inhumane at the very least. Autistic people are VERY often vulnerable and easy to exploit. Is it then "justice" to expose them to a building FULL of people who habitually abuse and exploit others? Its pretty much a foregone conclusion that many of the people on this site would never survive the penal system, and as I have said before, I wager that many of those who most vigorously call for "justice to be done" would be the FIRST to cry foul if someone "crossed" their disability.






I completely agree. when i was younger i had extreme sensory problems, I was probably the most honest person you could ever talk to and i was being accused of calling a girl fat. i pleaded that i did not do that , and because of my blank facial expression they assumed i was being a smartass. one thing led to another my traits were provoked and i started having a screaming meltdown. the school cop tried to pin me down(being touched when melting down= terrible) i freaked the F*** out and struggled like a madman, until she fell and placed charges of "Assault on an officer" on me. i spent two days in low security jail before i went insane and tried to kill myself. during the two days i screamed nonstop and kept punching and kicking the door to my cell until i wasn't able to move. when they transferred me to the hospital for being a threat to myself, i got a full room with a bed, bathroom and tv i had access to down the hall. that was my only mental escape for the next week.

then when i was 16 i was sent to the office for wearing a coat in class because i was cold"another sensory issue, plus i live in mn and my schools heating sucked) anyways, i got to the office and the dean yelled at me and told me and telling me how bad a kid i am , and that i would never be succesful in life. i by 16 was able to handle things better, so i turned around and walked away. as i walked away he kept screaming at me, and i turned around and said "leave me the hell alone" and then ran off. as i ran out of the office, the school cop arrested me. i remember what happened before so i DID NOT RESIST and after being cuffed had my face checked into the schools brick wall by the officer, then took out my cellphone and threw it down the hall. anyways, i spent 24 hrs in jail again, this time in maximum security for a nonviolent crime. I co-operated, but man mentally after that 24 hrs it felt like a lifetime to me. i still get f*****g nightmares, and am now extremely claustrophobic

So i say f**k THE SYSTEM!! ! we need some reform, i have always been law abiding, and always the first to tell my friends not to steal or do stupid s**t that could get them arrested. I have mild as now, to a point where i very rarely ever have sensory issues i am 18 and about to become a college student Thats my story thanks if you read

[quote]hen took out my cellphone and threw it down the hall.


* Then He took out my cellphone and threw it down the hallway.

Maybe he'll be the next Frank William Abagnale Jr. and work for the FBI. From my reading, I also don't think that McKinnon's crime was nearly as bad as Gonzales'. I also don't think that Asperger's can be used as an excuse to get out of a prison sentence, as most people with Asperger's can tell between right and wrong. I do feel a bit bad for him, though, as prisons are tough places to be, especially for those having trouble with social skills. It's wishful thinking, but maybe they will have him do community service for the FBI or CIA for a few years if they find that he really was only trying to look for UFOs. It will be interesting to see what happens.

The big difference in the two cases is that Gary did not profit from his hacking or share any info he gained. He was innocently looking up UFO information for personal use.