News Commentary: Hacker Going to Get Away With It?
On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest stories during the week.
This week’s news story comes from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) – Hacker’s human rights ‘ignored’
“Human rights arguments against extraditing a British man accused of hacking into US military networks were not "confronted," a court has heard.“
Here is the short version: A 43 year old British national, from Wood Green, London, is accused of hacking into 97 US Government computer systems in 2001 and 2002. This includes the Department of Defense, US Navy, and NASA. The UK has decided that there is insufficient evidence to support a UK prosecution under the British Computer Misuse Act. The hacker admits to doing the penetrations and claims that he did it looking for information about UFOs. He happens to have Asperger syndrome, a type of autism affecting his ability to properly interact within social constructs. The Brtis may be unwilling to prosecute him themselves, but they have agreed to extradite him to the US for prosecution. This article is about the growing domestic complaint that somehow his human rights will get violated by a US prosecution because of the US law system and particularly its treatment of foreigners who violate US defense, aka Terrorists.
For further background, the BBC also delivers the following facts in prior articles on this same story. [Edits within brackets have been done by the author.]
Glasgow-born [hacker] has always admitted hacking into the computer systems in 2001-2 – which the US government says caused damage costing $800,000 (£550,000).
He has signed a statement accepting that his hacking constituted an offence under the UK’s Computer Misuse Act 1990.
[The hacker] has always said he had no malicious intent but was looking for classified documents on UFOs which he believed the US authorities had suppressed.
My comment today has nothing to do with supposed guilt or innocence. I only want to say that I believe that it is high time that computer crimes stop being judged in the court of public opinion and start getting treated like the capital crimes that the law books list them as. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for anyone to be attempting to penetrate the cyber defenses of a government or military organization. Let’s stop playing to public sentiment when it comes to hackers and just take them to court like murders, rapists, and other potential felons. Just because hackers, like other “white collar criminals” don’t look dangerous, does not mean that their actions don’t risk human lives and cause high-dollar damages to public organizations. Unlike the referenced article’s commenter’s, I have full faith and confidence in the US law system to grant him a fair trial.
Also, note that I did not comment about how his Asperger syndrome does or does not influence the prosecution or defense. That, too, is an issue for expert witnesses to inform the court during proceedings. Why should any issue preclude him being judged by the legal system in a holistic manner?
Finally, I trust both the US and British legal systems here. I don’t care which takes action, but here you have a clear cut crime scene, no different from a dead body laying on the floor, that has a real suspect, just like catching someone in possession of the murder weapon, that must get properly adjudicated by the law… not allowed to fade away due to public disinterest and misunderstanding about computer security.
Agree? Disagree? Comment? Please share.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for August 2, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin
Image Credit: Socyberty.com
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Scott, this is and interesting and important topic, and I’m glad you are bringing some attention to it.
I’m not an expert, but there are a few reasons why these crimes are not prosecuted. One is embarrassment, loss of reputation and potential loss of revenue and customers due to publicizing the breach (not an issue here). Another and perhaps the biggest reason is these are tough crimes to prosecute. Judges, lawyers and juries do not understand the technology and prosecutors don’t like to bring cases to court unless they think they have a good chance to win.
Personally, I think we should create a special court for computer crimes that have judges and lawyers who are specialists in this area.