Amazing how may commentards
.. know so little about the details of the case.
Idiot's guide:
- Mc Kinnon was one of hundreds of 'visitors' to Pentagon network, he logged in to a workstation remotely and was able to sniff around in some directories.
- An employee at the Pentagon noticed the cursor moving about and began a typed conversation with McKinnon in order to determine his identity and intentions.
- The FBI originally charged McK with 'material damage to computer systems' because they had to shut down the network after the leak was discovered. In the US this is (something like) 6,000 dollars *per computer*, so they multiplied the fine by the amount of workstations on the network - hey presto: a multi-million dollar offence.
-It was only later that these offences were magically converted to "Terrorism".
- McKinnon never accessed 'secret' files nor hacked any servers. He 'took over' an employee's workstation, with no special passwords, access etc via a remote session.
- The Feds were so enraged and embarrassed that they want to 'make an example' of this geek in front of the world.
I'm not a McKinnon Fanboy, I am not a hakx0r and (for the CIA, FBI, CSA, RIAA and whoever..) I am not a "Turrist" either.
I just worry about elasticated laws with mobile goalposts and hysteria based justice.
But why should we worry?
We have nothing to hide eh?
(The question is, who is the party with things to hide?)
;P
.......