Gary McKinnon faces extradition to US
p2pnet news view | Freedom:- Gary McKinnon, the self-described “bumbling computer nerd” who hacked into US governments computers looking for evidence of a UFO cover-up, could now be classed as an ‘enemy combatant’ and interned at Guantánamo Bay, say reports.
Aged 42, he’s facing extradition after losing his last-ditch appeal in the House of Lords.
He, “allegedly broke into 97 US military computers from his bedroom in Wood Green, North London” and now faces at least 10 years in prison in the Unites States – although some estimates put it much higher,” says The Times Online.
“Mr McKinnon was accused of crashing the US Army’s Washington network of 2,000 computers for 24 hours, causing a significant disruption to Government functions.”
An unemployed computer systems administrator, he said he was merely searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life, “but American officials labelled him the world’s most dangerous hacker and accused him of deleting important files and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage,” says The Guardian, going on:
“His lawyers have fought vigorously against the extradition, arguing that McKinnon could face up to 60 years in prison as a result of his actions, and could even be classed as an ‘enemy combatant’ and interned at Guantánamo Bay. Instead they argued that he should face prosecution under Britain’s more lenient computer crime laws because he carried out the hacking from his bedroom in London.
“But the law lords today rejected that argument. ‘The difference between the American system and our own is not perhaps so stark as the appellant’s argument suggests,’ said Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood in his ruling.”
His lawyers have applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg for interim relief,’ says the Free Gary McKinnon site.
“This could be decided on within ten days or twenty days.”
It adds:
“One point of law being put to the ECHR is the same as Babar Ahmad i.e. the risk of being subjected to Guantanamo Bay style military or special category justice, and the other point is the threats that were made against Gary.”
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.Stumble It!
bumbling computer nerd – Gary McKinnon extradition, May 10, 2006
The Times Online -Gary McKinnon, British computer hacker, loses appeal over US extradition, July 30, 2008
The Guardian -Gary McKinnon: ‘World’s most dangerous hacker’ to be extradited to US, July 30, 2008
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August 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
The UK is now America’s bitch and the whole world knows it. LOL. This guy will have fun being waterboarded (remember, it’s not torture because we say it isn’t) and licking the jack-boots of his patriotic brave ‘murkin captors as they kick the living crap out of him. The brits these days are such cowards they would have handed over jews to the nazis if asked to do it in a stern manner. I’d bet they would hand over Chinese dissidents if they were told to. This guy needs to go into hiding or just leave his former pansy country.