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International
Cyberlaw
Hacker's
extradition put on hold - 27 October
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said he will study new medical
evidence before approving the extradition to the US of computer
hacker Gary McKinnon. He said he had "stopped the
clock" on proceedings to give Mr McKinnon's lawyers time to
appeal in Europe. Earlier this month the 43-year-old, who has
Asperger's syndrome, was denied an appeal at the UK Supreme
Court. - BBC News website
Miscellaneous
Pain
of torture can make innocent seem guilty - 28 October
The rationale behind torture is that pain will make the guilty
confess, but a new study, published in the Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, by researchers at Harvard
University finds that the pain of torture can make even the
innocent seem guilty. "Our research suggests that torture
may not uncover guilt so much as lead to its perception",
says Kurt Gray. "It is as though people who know of the
victim's pain must somehow convince themselves that it was a
good idea - and so come to believe that the person who was
tortured deserved it". Not all torture victims appear
guilty, however. When participants in the study only listened to
a recording of a previous torture session - rather than taking
part as witnesses of ongoing torture - they saw the victim who
expressed more pain as less guilty. Gray explains the different
results as arising from different levels of complicity. - Science
Daily website
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