Gary McKinnon has vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights, after his appeal against extradition was rejected by the House of Lords yesterday.

The Briton stands accused of hacking into top-secret US military computers, and faces a possible life-long prison sentence should his extradition go ahead.

McKinnon told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was "pretty broken up" by the ruling, but claimed that he had acted in the public interest.

"I am extremely sorry I did it, but I think the reaction is completely overstated," he said. "It felt like a moral crusade."

Glasgow-born McKinnon achieved worldwide fame after gaining access to 97 US military and Nasa computers in the biggest military hack in history.

McKinnon hacked into and disrupted numerous US military computers in 2001 and 2002 from his bedroom in North London. Since his arrest in 2002 he has never been formally charged in the UK.

McKinnon has consistently claimed that he is "a bumbling hacker" who was never a threat to security, and that he was only looking for UFO files that he believed the US government was keeping under wraps.

US prosecutors have offered McKinnon, aka 'Solo', a plea bargain. If he pleads guilty to two of the charges he will receive a four-year sentence. Otherwise, the 42 year-old faces a possible 70 years if found guilty of all the charges.


http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2222958/...ght-extradition

He should've used a public internet cafe! An example to the rest of us how Orwellian this whole world has become. At least he wasn't publicly abducted off the streets by the CIA and taken to Guantanamo, or some other secret prison. Maybe later eh? Time to take the slow boat to China. Thanks for an interesting article that is pertinent to all of us.

The European Court Human Rights has stopped the British government from extraditing self-confessed hacker Gary McKinnon to the US to face charges related to "the greatest military hack" in history.

A full chamber of judges in Strasbourg will hear McKinnon's appeal against extradition on 28 August. McKinnon lost his appeal in the House of Lords on 30 July.

McKinnon was first arrested in November 2002. The US asked for his extradition in 2005. McKinnon, who has said he would be content to stand trial in Britain, has lost his fight against extradition in every court in the UK.

Claiming that Britain has become "the 51st state of America", he said, "I stand a better chance in Europe than in my own country, perversely."

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/200...extradition.htm

The US should hire him to protect its security systems better .Well he has hacked them but so far doesn't seem to have misused anything from his hack .

But one has to wonder about his mentality.

He's ok with mentality, i suppose he is saying this to prevent punishment