Am I The Only Person With No Sympathy For Gary McKinnon

I will probably get slated for this, but am I the only person with no sympathy for Gary McKinnon?!

For those of you, who like me, don’t read the news, Gary McKinnon is a Scottish hacker facing extradition to the United States on charges of perpetrating the biggest military computer hack of all time.

McKinnon was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in August 2008, and it is said that he is suicidal and would not survive a U.S. prison incarceration. A psychiatrist has said that suicide is now an “almost certain inevitability”.

Two things, I have someone in my family who suffers from Asperger’s, so I am not insensitive to the condition.

I also work in IT, and I’m telling you now that I could not hack into a computer to save my life, my point being he is clearly a very intelligent man if he was capable of doing that.

The thing that gets me though, is that I know for a fact that if I did wrong, and I faced a jail sentence anywhere, doesn’t matter if it was in the UK or US, I would not be able to cope with being imprisoned, and as a result, I would probably resort to suicide too.

However if I did something wrong, would I get off with it, or be looked at more leniantly, probably not.

There can’t be many people who want to go to prison, and that is why we obey the law.

So I’m sorry if I sound unsympathetic or lacking compassion, and I believe there are far more serious criminals and threats to society in the world who should be being dealt with than Gary McKinnon, but I just don’t have a whole lot of sympathy.

Feel free to leave your comments …