A rock concert to benefit self-confessed hacker, Gary McKinnon, is being pitched by the man who runs Glastonbury Radio, who is hoping to recruit bands like Marillion.
Ross Hemsworth is putting together the concert, he says, to draw attention to the plight of McKinnon and others who are scheduled for extradition to the US without having committed any offence any serious crime in the UK.
The concert, to be called ‘Rock Against Injustice’, is being staged at very short notice by Hemsworth, who says he plans to stage it within the month.
The concert does appear to be at a formative stage. When we asked to talk to someone who had said they would appear, Hemsworth put us in touch with Mark Kelly, who plays keyboards with Marillion.
“I don’t know what is happening there,” Kelly told ZDNet UK. “Sure, I am interested in getting involved but I haven’t heard anything since I said I was interested.”
Kelly, Hemsworth and McKinnon do have an interest in common. When he was first threatened with extradition by the US authorities, McKinnon said that while it was true he had hacked into secret US web sites at NASA and elsewhere, his activities were innocent, as he was looking for UFOs.
Hemsworth maintains that he is trying to recruit a diverse range of rock starts to do the concert including Sting, Mark Knopfler, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Dave Gilmour, Peter Gabriel and others.
The event, while drawing attention to McKinnon, is also intended to raise money for the charity to help those with Asperger’s syndrome. McKinnon has been diagnosed as suffering from Asperger’s.
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Lets just get this in perspective here. Gary McKinnon is NOT INNOCENT.
He admitted hacking US military computers, HE DID COMMIT A SERIOUS OFFENCE !
Lets kick this idiot out of the country and collect the proceeds from this concert to pay back all the tax payers money wasted on his legal defence.
That's hard there 4thletter.......what happened to the punishment fitting the crime? Maybe he should be made to do something labourious and computer related as a community service. I think that's tax payers money well spent, trying to save a man from what would amount to psychological death!
I don't want him sitting in a jail over here in the US since I would be paying tax dollars to keep him incarcerated. Let him do his time in a UK lockup. I would NOT let him touch a computer for the entire length of his sentence. He doesn't need another opportunity to perpetuate his obsession or his crime.
I'll even let you guys in the UK keep his concert money to re-imburse his legal fees!
Come to think of it, US presidents get to pardon people before they leave office. You can see what I'm getting at. I'm going to write a good old fashioned paper letter to Mr Bush seeing as he is not allowed any access to e-mail.
I can guess what will happen if Dubba-Bubba did pardon him! There would be a medium-sized political stink and in a few months it would dissipate and nobody would care. Actually US presidents can pardon people at any time, its just easier to deal with politically if they put it off until they almost leave office. They also can pardon themselves! Clinton was a good example of the pardon privilege misused.
I don't know what Obama would do. Its probably dependent on the political climate.
If McKinnon's really got Asperger's then he needs to be getting treatment now, even if he has to do it under the public health care system. Otherwise he can kiss his chances at a light US sentence good bye.
BTW Maybe Hemsworth ought to see if they can line-up Spinal Tap for the concert (since he seems to have such a loose connection to reality!) although I hear that they are looking for another drummer. ;-)
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Well does anyone remember Hemsworth`s million pound bet with William Hill last year where he claimed that he could prove without a doubt that there is an afterlife within 12 months? This idiot is nothing more than a publicity seeking fantasist who more than likley runs his tinpot internet radio show from his own bedroom. This concert for Mckinnon is not going to happen because Ross Hemsworth is no Bob Geldof, he`s an ageing failed entertainment manager from the past (This i know). The idiot is comparing Mckinnon`s campain to Live Aid. If Gary is pinning his hopes on Hemsworth to bail him out then god help him.
I think Glastonbury radio is a very sincere endevor, and I think Ross is acting with integrity in all this.
Try searching companies house for a list longer than your arm of all the other sincere endevours Hemsworth has failed in.