Gary McKinnon

[[File:Gary McKinnon.jpg|thumb|165px|right|upright|McKinnon.]]{{conspiracynav|1}}
'''Gary McKinnon''' {{lived|1966}} is a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[hacker]] who, by hacking into 97 U.S. military and [[NASA]] computers between February 2001 and March 2002, alleges he found evidence for [[UFO]] cover-ups and [[free energy suppression|suppression]] of [[free energy (pseudoscience)|free energy]]. [[Argument_by_assertion|He says he found it therefore it must be true]], no actual proof required.

{{cquote|"The Americans have a secret spaceship?" I ask.

"That's what this trickle of evidence has led me to believe."

"Some kind of other Mir that nobody knows about?"

"I guess so," says Gary.

"What were the ship names?"

"I can't remember," says Gary. "I was smoking a lot of dope at the time. Not good for the intellect."|||[[Jon Ronson]] interviews Gary McKinnon, 2005<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/jul/09/weekend7.weekend2 Interview Game over Jon Ronson: Gary McKinnon has been accused of committing the 'biggest military computer hack of all time', and if extradited to the US faces up to 70 years in jail. So how did this techno geek from north London end up cracking open the Pentagon and Nasa's systems? He talks exclusively to Jon Ronson as he awaits his fate] by Gary McKinnon (9 Jul 2005 06.48 EDT) ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref>}}

==Extradition and terrorism==

McKinnon's claims of what he found were quite [[Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence|extraordinary, yet no evidence was provided]]. Given that he already was into ufology, was prone to mental illnesses with a family history of apparent schizophrenia; <ref>Janis Sharp (Gary Mckinnon's mother): It had taken us a long time to come to that feeling, beginning to relax. Then the worry of Gary taking his own life was massive, but also the worry that, because his grandmother had schizophrenia and his great grandmother spent 50 years in a mental insitution, that he would have irrecoverable mental health as a result.” - [https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/mum-of-crouch-end-ufo-hacker-gary-mckinnon-tells-of-3434464 Mum of Crouch End UFO hacker Gary McKinnon tells of ‘marathon’ ordeal]</ref> was smoking "a lot of dope at the time" and allegedly only briefly saw a low resolution photo of some metallic looking object <ref>Gary Mckinnon: "As this was happening, I had remote control of their desktop, and by adjusting it to 4-bit color and low screen resolution, I was able to briefly see one of these pictures. It was a silvery, cigar-shaped object with geodesic spheres on either side. There were no visible seams or riveting. There was no reference to the size of the object and the picture was taken presumably by a satellite looking down on it. The object didn't look manmade or anything like what we have created" - [https://www.wired.com/2006/06/ufo-hacker-tells-what-he-found/ 'UFO Hacker' Tells What He Found] </ref> it's much more likely that he just saw some things he already wanted to see, and any scrap of anything would be proof of aliens. Regardless, the U.S. authorities wanted to extradite and charge him with terrorism offences, and accused him of causing $800,000 in damage. McKinnon insists that he actually caused no damage, and in fact left messages on the hacked systems informing their operators of security weaknesses.  For a hardened cyber terrorist intent on bringing down the [[United States]], it's unusual that he had no more than a dial-up internet connection.

Somewhat of a recluse, diagnosed as having [[Autism|Asperger's syndrome]], he is far from the international terrorist certain U.S. agencies claim him to be.  Although he may be a 9/11 [[truther]], that doesn't seem to justify extradition proceedings.<ref>[http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2006/06/71182?currentPage=all An interview] with Wired magazine</ref>

His extradition was blocked by the then-Home Secretary Theresa May and he was to stand trial in the United Kingdom.<ref>
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19957138 Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May]</ref> The charges were dropped in December 2012.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20730627 BBC:Hacker Gary McKinnon will not face UK charges]</ref> McKinnon had expressed fears that he would have been sent to Guantanamo Bay.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4712700.stm 'Hacker' extradition case reopens], BBC News, 14 February 2006</ref>

==External links==
*[https://www.wired.com/2006/06/ufo-hacker-tells-what-he-found/ Military UFOs: The Truth (Updated)], David Hambling from Wired - a good article that gives a much more plausible explanation of what Mckinnon saw (spoiler: not aliens)
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2005/jul/09/weekend7.weekend2 Game over], [[Jon Ronson]] interviewing McKinnon for ''[[The Guardian]]'' (2005)

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Gary}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Ufology]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:9/11 truthers]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Scotland]]

Categories: Living people, Conspiracy theorists, Ufology, Government incompetence, 9/11 truthers, Pseudoscience promoters, Scotland