Post-justice justice

It's a good thing that The Guardian made the distinction between justice and US justice, but this judgment doesn't even make sense in British justice.

"Mr McKinnon's conduct was intentional and calculated to influence and affect the US government by intimidation and coercion," Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Goldring wrote, "As a result of his conduct, damage was caused to computers by impairing their integrity, availability and operation of programmes, systems, information and data on the computers, rendering them unreliable."

Intentional Yes

Influence and affect Yes. But did he do enough to truly influence and affect? Americans should hope so, but unless there are people like him, they must live in hope and trust.

By intimidation and coercion What intimidation? What coercion? Unless there is something that has not been written, there wasn't a skerrick of either on the part of this hacker who was probably amazed to find the system as easy to get into and as sloppily maintained as it proved to be.

As a result of his conduct, damage was caused to computers by impairing their integrity, availability and operation of programmes, systems, information and data on the computers, rendering them unreliable. If the reaction to this hacking weren't so serious, this statement would be laughably false instead of just creepily, we-make-our-own-reality false. The integrity was dangerously impaired already, which is what the hacking of this rank amateur showed. As for damage, he did the USA a service that was worth more than the whole of the budget and staff that Americans put their faith in and paid their taxes for: to protect them. The systems were a joke, the information and data (if there is indeed, a difference) were as unprotected as the Pope likes sex, and the result of that state of affairs was unreliability on a scale that was mindbogglingly D-movie incredible. This lone amateur just showed the disgustingly low level of unreliability, which makes his crime: to have exposed the sham of 'secure' US military computer systems. The 'damage' he did took, supposedly, $700,000 to fix. Shocking! At US military contractor rates, that expenditure equals, well, you can get an idea here.

If the USA is really worried about its defence being breached, they should prosecute the One they put their trust in. Make him fry for this Deluge.

. And the cost to repair this most expensive 'shield' Man has ever wielded isn't a military pack of peanuts.

. . . the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO -- a non-government U.S. watchdog body founded in 1981 -- reported that several of the key interceptors could never even have been launched, not because of North Korea sabotage, or sabotage by anyone else, but because of rain.

I'm for extradition. I can just see the judgment.

God's conduct was intentional and calculated to influence and affect . . .