Poll: IT professionals divided over McKinnon case
Less than half of IT professionals believe that if found guilty alleged hacker Gary McKinnon should be sent to a US prison, a recent poll suggests.
The survey, conducted by Sophos, found that 48 percent of respondents consider jail the most fitting ruling for the 40-year-old Scot should he be found guilty by the US authorities.
More than a third (42 percent) of those workers surveyed said community service is an appropriate punishment and ten per cent believe the former computer systems administrator should be fined.
McKinnon is accused of hacking into 97 US government computers in 2001, including those of the Pentagon, US army, air force and NASA. L33tdawg: IMHO, the US is just trying to 'send out a message' and 'make an example' out of Gary. I think a fine and community service would be sufficient; he was just a stoned hacker looking for UFOs! Certainly not what you'd call a criminal mastermind!
