Brit Hacker To Face U.S. Justice

U.K. High Court Maintains Extradition Order, Man Broke Into Military NASA Computers

(CBS/AP)  A British man accused of hacking U.S. military and NASA computer systems lost a High Court challenge Tuesday to avoid extradition to the United States.

Gary McKinnon had challenged a decision by Home Secretary John Reid to send him to the United States to face trial.

He has been indicted in New Jersey and northern Virginia, accused of illegally accessing and damaging U.S. government computer networks.

Prosecutors alleged that McKinnon, 39, illegally accessed 97 U.S. government computers between February 2001 and March 2002, causing $700,000 in damages. U.S. officials said in 2003 that no classified material had been obtained.

U.S. authorities called his attack the biggest successful hacking effort against American military computer networks.

Lawyers for McKinnon, who was first arrested in 2002 and then released, has fought extradition in the British court system since 2005, when the U.S. request was first made. It was not immediately clear why U.S. officials took so long to seek extradition.

McKinnon's lawyer, Karen Todner, confirmed in 2005 a published report that McKinnon was motivated by a desire to expose the ease with which a civilian could breach government computer systems and by a strong conviction that the U.S. government was concealing evidence of UFOs.

Janet Boston, acting for the U.S. government, told Bow Street Magistrates' Court that McKinnon installed unauthorized software on computers used by NASA, the Defense Department, the Army, Navy and Air Force that permitted him to "completely control the computers."

"On one instance, the U.S. Army's military district of Washington network became inoperable," she said.

Police arrested the former computer engineer, known online as "Solo," at his home in Wood Green, north London, in 2005 under an extradition warrant.

When the case was first revealed in late 2002, U.S. officials said McKinnon faced up to 10 years in prison plus fines of $250,000 on each of eight counts.

District Judge Christopher Pratt set several conditions for the $9,200 bail, including that McKinnon be barred from applying for any travel documents and from using any computer equipment that gives access to the Internet.

British prosecutors concluded that while Britain could have jurisdiction, it would be impractical to try the case in the U.K. They said that it arose from an American-led investigation of offenses committed in the United States and that the evidence and witnesses needed to prosecute were all in America.

[skunk_monkey]

Why don%u2019t we just nuke Britain ? It would solve a lot of problems

[toolmangler-2009]

Sorry, fr45444 no disrespect intended. I didn't see your post 'til I had done mine.

[toolmangler-2009]

This guy should go to prison, he's too stupid to be any use to any one for security and to arrogant to keep faith with the people that ultimately employ him. The hackers they should work with are the ones that never got caught. Offer complete amnesty to these people for their hacks that caused no harm other than embarrassment. and there is a veritable treasure-trove of info they could put to immediate use. Even I know how to 'hack', I don't know how not to get caught and really don't want to (because I'm weak!!!! boo hoo hoo)

[zootallures2]

This just ain't the UK's week, is it?

[randalds]

Hackers are a double-edged sword. On one hand they expose security flaws and write free code that results in freeware that is as good or better then Microsoft's being available online. On the other hand the more malicious ones, like this joker, can cause real damage. I hope he makes it to prison and gets that smirk wiped off his face by his new butt-buddies in there.

[fr45444]

He might be a criminal but why not just get him to work for the CIA? Someone that driven and obsessed with breaking into computer systems could be very useful to the government.

[hober_mallow]

My apologies to gunnerv1.

I did not notice that the first part of his post quoted tuckerndfw from his earlier post.

I am in agreement with gunnerv1.

[harp1963]

This guy did committe a crime and he should pay, but it's nice to know that there are rouge people in the world who can infiltrate "Big Brother."

[hober_mallow]

It seems to me that gunnerv1 is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

1st, he says it's ok walk around inside a house if the door is unlocked.

2nd, he says if you do this at HIS house, he'll shoot you.

gunnerv1, so which is it?

Also, try this at MY house, and you'll see what's behind curtain #2, as well.

[gunnerv1]

It seems to meif a homeowner (computer owner) leaves his door open(sytem unsecured) he has no ligitimate complaint when someonewalks in and loooks around. Don't try this at my house, you might die of severe acute lead poisoning, don't forget "a lock will only keep an honest man honest"

[mountainzen]

These comments are almost a whacky as Gary McKinnon's photo. A crime is a crime no matter the motivation. If he really did this as a civil message, he should be happy to sit in jail to make his point. That's what civil disobedience is all about.

Of course, one of his UFO's could pluck him out of jail, that would be the ultimate "I told you so!" Good luck to you, Gary. May the force be with you...

[nothappyatall]

"U.S. officials said in 2003 that no classified material had been obtained."

So they claim an we know how they hide this stuff, that a dork in the UK could hack the US Govt computers says a lot of our "national security" LOL a kid can break into the pentagon these days.

[crystalblue3]

Re: simonxhayes


Oh for God's sake. *shakes head*

[tuckerndfw]

I'll be glad when they begin prosecuting trolls.

Trolls are more of a nuisance than hackers.

It seems to me if a homeowner (computer owner) leaves his doors open (system unsecured) he has no legitimate complaint when someone walks in and looks around.

The US should be spending time and money securing systems rather than prosecuting people who performed a valuable service.

I wonder how many others hacked (or are currently hacked) into these "secure systems"? I suppose we'll never know. I doubt anyone knows.

[simonspectrum]

The US authorities also allege that Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on September 11. I look forward to Gary McKinnon's counsel raising this issue with the attorneys in Virginia.

http://www.notafreemason.com/content2-77.html