Gary McKinnon is a Scottish systems administrator arrested for hacking the US military and government computers. Since childhood, he had been deeply obsessed with astronomy, had unusual fears of riding in buses, the outdoors, and social interactions. He stayed indoors reading astronomy books and was obsessed with music. At the age of 14, he received and started coding video games on his Atari computer. McKinnon’s obsession with UFO sightings continued to grow, and he would later join the British UFO Research Association. This essay will discuss the various norms and values of hacker Gary McKinnon's subculture that were observed in his career.
McKinnon dropped out of secondary school and worked in a salon before doing jobs in technical support. In the 1990s at the behest of his friends, he pursued qualifications in computers. In the late 90s, McKinnon read The Hacker’s Handbook and taught himself hacking skills. Around 2000-2001 he decided to hack the US government's computer systems for evidence of UFOs. He wrote codes that allowed him to scan for computer passwords and discovered that many federal employees did not change their computers' default passwords. He installed the program RemotelyAnywhere on these unsecured computers. This program allowed him to remotely monitor, browse, transfer and delete files from his London residence.
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Gary McKinnon was arrested in 2002 by the UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and charged under the Computer Misuse Act. In November of the same year, he faced a federal grand jury case in the Eastern District of Virginia. McKinnon faced 70 years imprisonment from seven computer-related crime charges, each carrying a 10-year jail sentence. The government never revealed how it became aware of his hacks, but McKinnon believes he was discovered while downloading an image from a computer at Johnson Space Centre. He had used the pseudonym Solo and had left several messages highlighting the lack of security in the government computers he hacked.
In 2005, the UK enacted the Extradition Act of 2003, which implemented an extradition treaty with the US created after the 9/11 attacks to help in prosecuting suspected terrorists. Such allowed the US government to apply for his extradition to America. He was charged with causing damages of over 700, 000 dollars and deleting 1,300 user accounts and illegally accessing computer files. In deleting critical files, McKinnon caused the Washington DC network of the US Army to crash for 24 hours. The DOJ moved to charge him for disrupting government functions and endangering national defense and security.
During a television interview, a viewer suspected he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. McKinnon agreed to be examined by Simon Baron-Cohen, the Autism Research Centre director at Cambridge University. McKinnon was diagnosed with it. Such caused social and political pressure in campaigns for his release. McKinnon's legal team used this as part of its defense but lost several appeals in British courts and the European Court of Human Rights in 2009. The US government was still very adamant about extraditing him. In 2010 the UK Home Secretary took upon the case, and in 2012, Theresa May the then Home Secretary blocked extradition, and the DPP dropped all charges against him.
Technology, secrecy, and mastery are vital values for a hacker to have. Gary McKinnon possessed all three values in his hacking career. First, he understood technology. He used a code called Perl script to detect passwords on unsecured computers. He logged into the computers and used them while being able to avoid detection by logging out when other people were using them. Secrecy is a vital value to have as a hacker since it prevents one from being discovered. McKinnon was very secretive, demonstrated by his use of the false name Solo to hide his identity. His lack of social skills meant very few knew of his activities, including his mother, who only became aware of his hacks after his arrest. McKinnon also showed great mastery skills by mastering hacking skills within a short time after reading a hacking book. He used computers from a young age and learned to hack all on his own, starting by reading The Hacker’s Handbook.
McKinnon demonstrated the five norms identified in hacker's subculture. These are an obsession with technology, acquiring and sharing knowledge, commitment to hacking, categorization of hacking, and awareness of the law. McKinnon had started by coding video games on his computer since his teenage years. His program RemotelyAnywhere, was evidence of very high-level technical skills. He sought knowledge of hacking by teaching himself hacking skills from a book. He also aimed to share information on UFO and alien knowledge globally. Commitment is another norm displayed by McKinnon. He continued to learn new technical skills. After hacking the first government computers, he did not stop there but went on to hack more complex computer systems. It became an obsession that drove him to sharpen his skills to hack more government computers. After his arrest, McKinnon claimed to have hacked for purposes of exposing UFO sightings, alien technology, and other useful information being withheld by the government. This categorization of the hacker he was and what hacking meant to him is commonly observed among hackers. He claimed to be on a moral crusade aimed at spreading vital information to the public and denying the government any risk. This consideration of the law is another norm seen in hacker subcultures where hackers try to work within the confines of the law or claim to expose data, not for illegal purposes but public benefit.
Conclusion
In his hacking career, Gary McKinnon possessed hacking values that allowed him to be a good hacker. He alleges it is his failure to uphold secrecy by being reckless when viewing a photo on Johnson Space Centre that led to his arrest. McKinnon also followed norms that have been observed among hackers.
References
BBC. (2012, 14 December). Profile: Gary McKinnon. BBC. Retrieved 29 July, 2020 from, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19946902
BBC. (2012, 14 December). Gary McKinnon: Timeline. BBC. Retrieved 29 July, 2020 from, https://www.bbc.com/news/19959726
Kushner, D. (2011, 27 June). The autistic hacker. IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 29, July 2020 from, https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/the-autistic-hacker
Gillam, L. & and Vartapetiance, A. (2014). Gambling with Laws and Ethics in Cyberspace. In Luppiccini, R. (Eds) Evolving Issues Surrounding Technoethics and Society in the Digital Age . IGI Global (pp. 149-170). Retrieved 29 July, 2020 from, https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/gambling-with-laws-and-ethics-in-cyberspace/111036
