Gary McKinnon, the 'NASA hacker', is to be extradited to
the US to face trial.
McKinnon, from north London, was defending himself against the
order in the UK Court of Appeal, after home secretary John Reid
determined in 2006 that the extradition should go ahead.
McKinnon will now be tried in the US on charges of breaking into
and damaging US government computers.
McKinnon is alleged to have hacked into computers belonging to
the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, Department of Defense and
NASA.
He claims that he broke into the networks only to uncover
confidential information about anti-gravity propulsion systems and
extraterrestrial technology, which he believed the authorities were
hiding from the public.
He has led a high profile campaign to avoid extradition,
supported by many other computer hackers.
"The US government is taking a hard line towards cybercrime, and
certainly won't tolerate anyone trying to compromise its own
computers - McKinnon really should have considered this before he
went UFO-hunting," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant
at internet security firm Sophos.
A lawyer for the US government said the hacking "was intentional
and calculated to influence and affect the US government by
intimidation and coercion".
Last year, a Sophos online poll revealed that 52% of IT
professionals thought McKinnon should not be extradited, while 48%
said it was correct for him to face a US court.
McKinnon “faces life term”
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