Latest Technology News from Pulse Web Hosting

British hacker to face extradition to the US

04/04/07 – The High Court has ruled against a British hacker who was trying to overrule a Home Office agreement to extradite him to America. 41-year-old Gary McKinnon stands accused by the US of the "biggest military computer hack of all time".
Federal authorities in America accuse McKinnon of illegally gaining access to 97 US military and NASA computers.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, had agreed to an American request to extradite McKinnon for trial and it was this decision that was being appealed at the High Court.

McKinnon's lawyer argued that his client's human rights had been breached by "improper threats" from the US authorities.

It was alleged that "chilling and intimidating" references to execution have been made towards McKinnon by New Jersey prosecutors.

McKinnon's lawyer also advised that if extradited his client would be kept in pre-trial detention for an undetermined period of time with very little chance of bail

However, Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Goldring ruled that they could not see any legal grounds to prevent McKinnon's extradition.

McKinnon will now take his appeal to the House of Lords.

Speaking after the hearing his lawyer said: "We will certainly be applying for this court to certify a point of law of public importance and to grant leave."

The US is looking to try McKinnon as a cyber-terrorist and as a result if he were to stand trial in the US and be found guilty he would face life in prison.

McKinnon has admitted that he did illegally access the sensitive networks of US military institutions during the period February 2001 to March 2002.

However, following his arrest in November 2002, he claimed that he only did it due to curiosity and blamed the standard of security that was protecting the networks.

---

Link to this news article using the url below:

http://www.pulsewebhosting.com/news/british-hacker-to-face-extradition-to-the-us/69/

<a href="http://www.pulsewebhosting.com/news/british-hacker-to-face-extradition-to-the-us/69/" title="British hacker to face extradition to the US">British hacker to face extradition to the US</a> Published Date: 2007-04-04 13:02:44

Subscribe to our RSS News feed:
 Web Hosting RSS