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ISS NASA Space The Courts

First Alleged Crime In Space? (bbc.com) 70

Posted by EditorDavid from the final-frontiers dept.
bobstreo tipped us off to an interesting story. The BBC reports that NASA "is reported to be investigating a claim that an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, in what may be the first allegation of a crime committed in space." Anne McClain acknowledges accessing the account from the ISS but denies any wrongdoing, the New York Times reports... The astronaut told the New York Times through a lawyer that she was merely making sure that the family's finances were in order and there was enough money to pay bills and care for Ms Worden's son -- who they had been raising together prior to the split. "She strenuously denies that she did anything improper," said her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, adding that Ms McClain was "totally co-operating..."

Her estranged spouse, Summer Worden, reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Ms McClain has since returned to Earth...

Ms McClain graduated from the prestigious West Point military academy and flew more than 800 combat hours over Iraq as an Army pilot. She went on to qualify as a test pilot and was chosen to fly for NASA in 2013.
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First Alleged Crime In Space? More

First Alleged Crime In Space?

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  • Don't do the space crime (Score:5, Funny)

    by FilmedInNoir ( 1392323 ) on Saturday August 24, 2019 @05:37PM (#59121490)
    If you can't do the space time... continiuum
    • Hmm...what jurisdiction would this be in.....?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Empiric ( 675968 )

        One better than any on Earth, but still inferior to the other one not on Earth.

        Someone in the extraterrestrial one will probably still figure out how to impose fractional reserve banking.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Paxtez ( 948813 )

        Probably the state that the bank system existed in. Our state (and I'm assuming most states) have a law that says that for on-line/phone/etc. crimes the jurisdiction is both in the state where the suspect was, and the state where the system was accessed.

        So if it was a California bank account that was accessed they would be to prosecuted in California. It's the same thing as if you were in international waters.

      • IANAL but I think Maritime law is fully applicable. If you've ever seen in the movies where once the bad guys go to international waters they can do whatever they want, including murder, it's totally false. In general, the laws of the country that the ship is registered under apply to the crew, but for the passengers it's a bit complicated. For example, I think if the perp and the victim of a crime are both nationals of the same country, then that country has full jurisdiction. When they're from different c

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        Fortunately the article told us: The law of the country from which the astronaut originated applies.

        Except that if they're from the EU, it's EU law that applies, rather than the individual country, except that any EU country can apply their laws. So someone from Sweden would be breaking the law by denying the holocaust as that's illegal in Germany.

        In this case the lesbian in space (as, for reasons of personal titillation, I am referring to her) is from the US and so falls under US laws.

  • f you've been robbed, including online robbery, don't you start by filing a police report? And maybe the police escalate to the District Attorney?

    Can we all just go straight to the FTC now?

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday August 24, 2019 @05:46PM (#59121506)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • thanks for the article WhatsApp video status [stmwhatsap...status.com]

  • Obvious Criiimes-Iiin-Spaaaaaaace clickbait bullshit aside here, I'd love to know which alleged lawyer has passed the Intergalactic Space Bar exam in order to take this case.

  • His wife had the password to HIS account, and he didn't bother changing it when she filed for divorce? Dude, pay attention.

    • This isn't really a relevant detail to the story, just to your comment, but one thing you're missing is that neither of them are a 'dude'. :)

      • Mea culpa, I read the article carelessly. To my credit though, it occurred to me that "Summer" was an odd name for a dude.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Aighearach ( 97333 )

          There are lots of middle-aged men named Summer.

          It is a standard hippie name. Why would a season be associated with a gender? Isn't that excessively silly?

      • On the west coast, dude has been a gender-neutral word for at least 20 years.

        Probably also true on dude ranches.

    • Yup, missed one bit. It's HER wife. And the whole thing is a bit ugly, since it looks like it's a custody battle for their son, so I'd expect a lot of foul play.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jythie ( 914043 )
      The person is claiming that this is a long standing pattern of access since the account is used for things involving a child, which their lack of actually changing the password kinda supports.
      • Yep. People share passwords all the time. They shouldn't do it, but they do. This is NOT a case of identity theft.

    • His wife had the password to HIS account, and he didn't bother changing it when she filed for divorce? Dude, pay attention.

      Apparently they bat for the other team.

    • Aside from the already corrected aspect of gender.... I came here looking for someone thinking in this direction.

      1) The banking login worked for the accused. What kind of a bank allows this? I live in Norway where logging into the bank requires two factor authentication... either from a code brick or via a special feature for 2FA available in iPhone and Android which support actual LTE/GSM based 2FA through back channels that authenticate the phone quite properly at least. Are there banks in the US which wo

      • Who in the world would use a bank like that?

        Someone on a space station without phone signal? Well, to be fair, perhaps that depends on your interpretation of "in the world"...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by spth ( 5126797 )

        The banking login worked for the accused. What kind of a bank allows this? [...]

        I also live in Europe. Most of the banks I use allow login (and looking at the incoming and outgoing payments) without 2FA. The 2FA is only required when doing something else, such as transferring money.

  • Husband deserves to be laughed at (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Comrade Ogilvy ( 1719488 ) on Saturday August 24, 2019 @06:18PM (#59121558)

    If I sign up for a gym membership and foolishly allow them to autodeduct from my checking account, if I then cancel and the gym keeps taking money out of my account for four months afterwards, the bank will shrug and tell me to go to the police. The police will take my report, but will snicker at me and tell me it is up to the DA. The DA will not care, and tell me it is a civil matter. The bank, police and DA will tell me to take the gym to civil court and prove damages, and maaaaaybe some judge will care then.

    The estranged husband is going to have a difficult time proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the wife was not authorized to look around, given she seems to have the necessary passwords. If pressed, the bank, the police, the DA will laugh at him and tell him to prove damages in a civil court.

    But I suppose your case is laughable and your actual goal is some kind of revenge, going to the court of public opinion may be your only option. Do not expect the court of public opinion to be kind or gentle.

    • Husband? Husband died on Columbia.

    • The estranged husband is going to have a difficult time proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the wife was not authorized to look around

      There is no estranged husband. This is two women married to each other.

      • The estranged husband is going to have a difficult time proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the wife was not authorized to look around

        There is no estranged husband. This is two women married to each other.

        It gets really complicated when both of the couple are the victim.

    • Re:Husband deserves to be laughed at (Score:4, Informative)

      by r2kordmaa ( 1163933 ) on Saturday August 24, 2019 @08:36PM (#59121806)
      No husband involved in this case.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      the bank will shrug

      Really? My bank will immediately halt the payments.

      No least because the moment that I tell them those payments are not authorised it's the bank's money being given away not mine. The bank can't pay someone from my account without my authorisation.

      Meanwhile suing the gym takes around ten minutes to do online, costs me nothing (as I'll claim the fees along with the amount owed) and because there's an audit trail showing my cancellation the gym probably wont even bother to contest.

      But maybe things are just mor

      • the bank will shrug

        Really? My bank will immediately halt the payments.

        My bank and cards are all set up that large payments trigger a full stop and hold. I get a call within a minute from a human that asks me to confirm the purchase or withdrawal was real. As well, any out of character purchases or strange stuff. And once when the wife and I were in two different cities and purchased gas at the same exact moment,

        But maybe things are just more sensible in the UK.

        Perhaps not. Lovingly, yours from the colonies - Ol

  • Army helicopter pilot, combat veteran, astronaut (Score:3)

    by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Saturday August 24, 2019 @06:26PM (#59121578)
    Space criminal? Is she trying to be the first at everything?
  • She must be blasted out of the airlock.

    • I think that is written in the Code of Hammurabi somewhere...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      Nah, relax. Let her walk.

      In space.

      Without a suit.

      Seriously though, did she only look at the account? Did she leave the money IN the account? If so, this could have been a whole lot worse.

  • I'm not convinced a criminal act actually happened but even if it was this is an Internet crime. The fact that the Internet connection involved someone in low orbit really doesn't enter into it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      It must be in space as it wouldn't be newsworthy otherwise.

      That it technically did happen in what's deemed 'space' means that the act did occur in space. Whether it was a criminal act is indeed still to be confirmed.

      Use of the internet was, as always, pretty much irrelevant. "..over the internet" has as little validity when attached to crimes as it does to patents.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Didn't you do anything about your standards the last time an astronaut had a meltdown?

      -jcr

      Of course they did! They keep much closer count of the adult diapers now.

  • Damn. Bank scam. I'm disappointed.

  • First Alleged Crime In Space?

    ... Editors and referenced TFAs for calling it a "Crime In Space" rather than a "Space Crime" like many other news outlets did in their headlines -- though, in this case, an even more appropriate term would be, "Crime From Space"... /pedantic

  • ... nuke the bank account from orbit; it was the only way to be sure.

  • What is NASA's plan, to return her to face criminal charges? According to the news, she is active duty US Army officer. -- If she is prosecuted under appropriate jurisdiction criminal law or -- if no charges are filed. Then, the question becomes Will she be charged, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for Conduct Unbecoming a Commissioned Officer? Will she be ultimately become eligible for a Dishonorable Discharge or a Bad Conduct Discharge? Then, is she in violation of Bill Clinto

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ebvwfbw ( 864834 )

      I wouldn't do anything to her. She's a Mom taking care of business.
      No crime.
      Asshole former husband who probably can't stand the fact he won't get that any more.
      Probably a sole player now.

      • Yeah once again not how the military works and she has no husband. I suspect she's considered the husband in the relationship.

    • She's low key fucked, dishonorable discharge is reserved for serious crimes. An enlisted person would get a bad conduct discharge because they're not worth consideration or dignity, it's easiest to trash them. In her case it's punishment enough to quietly end her military career which is, in the eyes of the ruling caste the same as trying to ruin an enlisted person's life with a BCD.
      Don't ask don't tell hasn't been a thing for a long time. But she will be punished regardless of guilt. She's never flyi

  • Time to update the list of Human firsts [wikipedia.org] in space.

  • Time for a cover of Michael Jackson's "Space Criminal."

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