London (England) – A British hacker has lost his appeal against extradition to the United States.  42-year-old Gary McKinnon is accused of wreaking havoc on US military computer systems back in 2001 and 2002 by hacking into systems with a simple dial-up modem and off-the-shelf software.  US prosecutors want to try him in the states and McKinnon, along with his solicitors, have been fighting extradition for several years.  Now it appears time is running out for the unemployed IT administrator as Britain’s highest court, the House of Lords, has rejected his appeal.

According to court documents, McKinnon is accused of scanning over 73000 government computers belonging to the Department of Defense, Army, Air Force, Navy and even NASAand actually gained access to 97 computers with his dial-up modem.  During his exploits, he managed to take 2000+ computers offline for 24 hours at the US Army Military District of Washington and a similar hack attempt disabled 300 computers at a New Jersey naval weapons station.  The government estimates that McKinnon caused approximately $900,000 in damage.

McKinnon isn’t fighting extradition because he believes the charges are false, rather he wants a reduced sentence and the option to spend some of that time in the British correctional system.  McKinnon doesn’t deny that he hacked into those systems and in fact, he’s given a couple of interviews since the attacks, admitting that he was on a crusade to find evidence of UFOs on government computers.  McKinnon says he did see documents and even pictures of alien craft, but that he can’t produce any of those files today.

US prosecutors had offered McKinnon a plea deal which would have resulted in 18 to 24 months in prison, but warned that he could face up to 10 years in prison – with the possibility of some of that in a high-security facility – if he contested.  Prosecutors are against McKinnon serving any of that time in Britain.

McKinnon still has one last chance to fight extradition to the United States.  He will be filing a final appeal with the European Court of Human Rights and will be allowed to stay in Britain for another two weeks while the proceedings are underway.

Stupid Wanker

Jul 30, 2008 19:49     

Lets see how this dweeb handles an american prison. Don't drop the soap...
Bill report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -7

He's not the only dumb one.

Jul 30, 2008 20:15     

Although it wasn't right for him to hack into their systems, for a country that touts itself as being the only superpower, with all it's might and technology it's fascinating how a single person with off the shelf software using a dialup modem managed to hack their systems. Quite embarrassing I would think. Now if this guy could do it, they should count their lucky stars that it wasn't somebody worse. Or maybe they just hadn't detected others in there. Cheers, Davo.

Davo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Live in prison with no possibility of parole....

Jul 30, 2008 20:20     

Live in prison with no possibility of parole.
Paul report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -7

"... simple dial-up modem and off-the-shelf software..."

Jul 30, 2008 20:38     

"hacking into systems with a simple dial-up modem and off-the-shelf software" LOL. It shows how pathetic USA Federal Government computer security is. Instead of blocking these intrusions, they prosecute instead. Can you imagine how easy it is for fully funded agents of foreign governments to penetrate our computers? I'll just bet the Russians, Chinese, and Israelis are just bleeding us dry. They don't even have to PAY anyone anymore.

DM report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -3

He should point out the US's human rights record.

Jul 30, 2008 21:04     

When he appeals to the European court of Human Rights, he should point out the US government has no code of conduct and no standard of treatment against non-US citizens.
Brad report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -7

Although....

Jul 31, 2008 06:56     

Today, our government actually encourages it on tv and internet adds. So, as long as you don't really poke around in there (once you get access,) all you get is a friendly phone call, congragulations, and of course they'll try to hire you. It is also not malicious to break in to someones server. But once you do, can you resist delving into the box?
slerk report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: He should point out the US's human rights record

Jul 31, 2008 16:10     

The guy's not a terrorist Brad. If he gets put in prison his biggest problem will be the other prisoners, not the US government. Despite the anti-American attitude of so many here on TGdaily, the US is actually ranked very high by the various human rights organizations world wide. The UN is a joke when it comes to Human Rights issues anyway. This is the organization that allows Sudan to sit on the Human Rights Committee. That's the same country that almost gave the death sentence to a British teacher who allowed her class to name a Teddy Bear Muhammad.

Task report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

this guys a champ!

Jul 31, 2008 18:03     

he went in there looking for disclosing documents about UFO's. He found it all and now they are trying to slam him hard so he cannot expose it.
R report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

RE: this guys a champ!

Jul 31, 2008 19:28     

"he went in there looking for disclosing documents about UFO's. He found it all and now they are trying to slam him hard so he cannot expose it." Bah. He's just IMO selling you a load of crap and you're buying it all. If he had found documents, he would've DL'd them into his PC and then uploaded to all the newsgroups. That's what you do when you find conspiracies, YOU UPLOAD TO NEWSGROUPS!
DM report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2