{"id":1234,"date":"2008-08-28T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2008-08-28T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/2008\/08\/28\/breaking-news-g\/"},"modified":"2008-08-28T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2008-08-28T17:30:09","slug":"breaking-news-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/breaking-news-g\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Gary McKinnon, UFO Researcher, loses extradition appeal to EU court of human rights, faces extradition to USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"gmail_quote\">\n<div><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/uk_news\/7585861.stm\"><span style=\"color: #4563b9;\">http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/uk_<wbr><\/wbr>news\/7585861.stm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\">\n<div>\n<h1>Hacker loses extradition appeal <\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<table width=\"226\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"226\" hspace=\"0\" height=\"170\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/newsimg.bbc.co.uk\/media\/images\/44750000\/jpg\/_44750384_mckinnon_getty_226b.jpg\" alt=\"Gary McKinnon\" \/><\/p>\n<div>Gary McKinnon could face a long prison sentence<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>A Briton accused of hacking into secret military computers has lost his appeal against extradition to the US.<\/strong><br \/>\nGlasgow-born Gary McKinnon was said to be &quot;distraught&quot; after losing the<br \/>\nappeal to the European Court of Human Rights. He faces extradition<br \/>\nwithin two weeks. <\/p>\n<p>The unemployed man could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers.\n<\/p>\n<p>The 42-year-old admitted breaking into the computers from his London home but said he sought information on UFOs.\n<\/p>\n<p>Mr McKinnon asked the European Court of Human Rights in<br \/>\nStrasbourg to delay his extradition pending a full appeal to the court<br \/>\nagainst his extradition but his application was refused. <\/p>\n<p>He claimed the extradition would breach his human rights.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Absolutely devastated&#8217;<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>His solicitor Karen Todner said this had been her client&#8217;s &quot;last<br \/>\nchance&quot; and appealed to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to intervene. <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table width=\"231\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"5\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5\" hspace=\"0\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/newsimg.bbc.co.uk\/shared\/img\/o.gif\" \/><\/td>\n<td>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"24\" height=\"13\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/newsimg.bbc.co.uk\/nol\/shared\/img\/v3\/start_quote_rb.gif\" \/> <strong>Our<br \/>\nclient now faces the prospect of prosecution and imprisonment thousands<br \/>\nof miles away from his family in a country in which he has never set<br \/>\nfoot<\/strong> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"23\" height=\"13\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/newsimg.bbc.co.uk\/nol\/shared\/img\/v3\/end_quote_rb.gif\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Solicitor Karen Todner<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&quot;He is absolutely devastated by the decision,&quot; she said. &quot;He and his family are distraught.\n<\/p>\n<p>&quot;They are completely beside themselves. He is terrified by the prospect of going to America.&quot;\n<\/p>\n<p>She added Mr McKinnon had recently been diagnosed with Asperger<br \/>\nsyndrome and would ask for the case to be tried in this country. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;The offences for which our client&#8217;s extradition is sought<br \/>\nwere committed on British soil and we maintain that any prosecution<br \/>\nought to be carried out by the appropriate British authorities,&quot; she<br \/>\nadded. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;Our client now faces the prospect of prosecution and<br \/>\nimprisonment thousands of miles away from his family in a country in<br \/>\nwhich he has never set foot.&quot; <\/p>\n<p>Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK.\n<\/p>\n<p>He first lost his case at the High Court in 2006 before taking it to the highest court in the UK, the House of Lords.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Computer nerd<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>The US government claims he committed a malicious crime &#8211; the biggest military computer hack ever.\n<\/p>\n<p>The authorities have warned that without his co-operation and a<br \/>\nguilty plea the case could be treated as terrorism and he could face a<br \/>\nlong jail sentence. <\/p>\n<p>The former systems analyst is accused of hacking into the computers with the intention of intimidating the US government.\n<\/p>\n<p>It alleges that between February 2001 and March 2002, he hacked<br \/>\ninto dozens of US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense<br \/>\ncomputers, as well as 16 Nasa computers. <\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say he altered and deleted files at a naval air<br \/>\nstation not long after the 11 September attacks in 2001, rendering<br \/>\ncritical systems inoperable. <\/p>\n<p>However, Mr McKinnon has said his motives were harmless and innocent. He denies any attempts at sabotage.\n<\/p>\n<p>He said he wanted to find evidence of UFOs he thought was being<br \/>\nheld by the US authorities, and to expose what he believed was a<br \/>\ncover-up. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ArwC7c ckChnd\" id=\":wv\">\n<div bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">\n<div><span face=\"Arial\" style=\"font-size: 0.8em;\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/technology\/2008\/aug\/28\/hacking.security\">http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/<wbr><\/wbr>technology\/2008\/aug\/28\/<wbr><\/wbr>hacking.security<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h1>Hacker Gary McKinnon loses appeal against extradition to US<\/h1>\n<h2>North London computer expert hacked into 97 US military<br \/>\ncomputers<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" name=\"11c0b81bb6c67de5_&amp;lid={contentTypeByline}{James Sturcke}&amp;lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/profile\/jamessturcke\">James<br \/>\n&nbsp; Sturcke<\/a> and agencies <\/li>\n<li>Thursday August 28 2008 13:25 BST<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" src=\"http:\/\/mail.google.com\/mail\/?ui=2&amp;ik=63d04e2f3f&amp;attid=0.1&amp;disp=emb&amp;view=att&amp;th=11c0b81bb6c67de5\" alt=\"'Super hacker' Gary McKinnon\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Super hacker&#8217; Gary McKinnon. Photograph: Getty<br \/>\nImages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gary McKinnon, a computer expert who hacked into dozens of US military<br \/>\ncomputers, lost his appeal to the European court of human rights today and faces<br \/>\nextradition to the US in the next fortnight, his solicitor said.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon has fought a long battle with authorities over his extradition to<br \/>\nthe US, which has dubbed him the &quot;the world&#8217;s most dangerous hacker&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon broke into the Pentagon&#8217;s system from his north London flat and left<br \/>\na message saying &quot;your security is crap&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, he lost his battle against extradition in a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/ld200708\/ldjudgmt\/jd080730\/mckinn-1.htm\">House<br \/>\nof Lords ruling<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>McKinnon turned to the European court of human rights, complaining about the<br \/>\nconditions he would face if convicted in the US and was granted a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cmiskp.echr.coe.int\/tkp197\/view.asp?item=1&amp;portal=hbkm&amp;action=html&amp;highlight=mckinnon&amp;sessionid=13057322&amp;skin=hudoc-pr-en\">temporary<br \/>\ndelay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The court did <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cmiskp.echr.coe.int\/tkp197\/view.asp?item=1&amp;portal=hbkm&amp;action=html&amp;highlight=mckinn%20%7C%20on&amp;sessionid=13065686&amp;skin=hudoc-pr-en\">not<br \/>\ngive reasons for refusing<\/a> McKinnon&#8217;s request today.<\/p>\n<p>Karen Todner, from Kaim Todner solicitors, said her client was &quot;distraught&quot;<br \/>\nabout the decision. She appealed to the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to<br \/>\nintervene.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Mr McKinnon has recently been diagnosed as suffering from Asperger&#8217;s<br \/>\nsyndrome. As a result, we will be writing to the home secretary again inviting a<br \/>\nprosecution in this country,&quot; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Our client now faces the prospect of prosecution and imprisonment thousands<br \/>\nof miles away from his family in a country in which he has never set foot.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Our client&#8217;s case highlights a worrying trend where UK citizens are at the<br \/>\nmercy of the ever-increasing tendency of overseas prosecutors to extend their<br \/>\njurisdiction to crimes allegedly committed in this country.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Using the codename Solo, the 42-year-old hacked into 53 US army computers and<br \/>\n26 US navy computers, including those at the US naval weapons station Earle in<br \/>\nNew Jersey, which is responsible for replenishing munitions and supplies for the<br \/>\nAtlantic fleet.<\/p>\n<p>The US military said he left 300 computers unusable at a US navy weapons<br \/>\nstation immediately after 9\/11. <\/p>\n<p>He was caught in 2002 as he tried to download a grainy black-and-white<br \/>\nphotograph he believed was an alien spacecraft from a Nasa computer at the<br \/>\nJohnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>He was easily traced by the authorities because he used his own email<br \/>\naddress.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Summers, an official representing the US government, said McKinnon&#8217;s<br \/>\nhacking was &quot;intentional and calculated to influence and affect the US<br \/>\ngovernment by intimidation and coercion&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>American officials claim he caused $700,000 (\u00a3354,000) damage and threatened<br \/>\nnational security.<\/p>\n<p>If extradited, McKinnon faces up to 70 years in prison and his lawyers have<br \/>\nargued he could even be given &quot;enemy combatant&quot; status, the same category<br \/>\napplied to terrorist suspects interned at Guant\u00e1namo Bay. <\/p>\n<p>McKinnon, an unemployed IT worker from north London, has consistently argued<br \/>\nthat he was merely a &quot;bumbling computer nerd&quot; who caused no damage but was<br \/>\nmerely searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;It got a bit silly,&quot; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/theguardian\/2005\/jul\/09\/weekend7.weekend2\">he<br \/>\ntold the Guardian<\/a> in 2005. &quot;I suppose it means I&#8217;m not a secretive,<br \/>\nsophisticated, checking-myself-every-step-of-<wbr><\/wbr>the-way type of hacker.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Between 2001 and 2002 he scanned thousands of US government computers from<br \/>\nhis bedroom, looking for loopholes which would help him get inside their<br \/>\nnetworks in order to prove his contention that the existence of aliens had been<br \/>\ncovered up by the CIA.<\/p>\n<p>After last month&#8217;s House of Lords decision, McKinnon said the case had proved<br \/>\ndevastating in the six years since he was arrested. With his bail conditions<br \/>\nbarring him from using the internet, a return to his previous work in IT had<br \/>\nbeen nearly impossible and potential employers were scared off.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#8217;ve lost two jobs because of this; my bosses just didn&#8217;t want to be<br \/>\nassociated with the publicity,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Todner denied McKinnon was a terrorist or a terrorist sympathiser and said<br \/>\nhis case could have been dealt with by our prosecuting authorities in Britain<br \/>\nwhere the hacking raids were conducted. &quot;American officials involved in this<br \/>\ncase have stated that they want to see him fry. The consequences he faces if<br \/>\nextradited are both disproportionate and intolerable and we will be making an<br \/>\nimmediate application to the European court to prevent his removal.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon would face a much shorter sentence under Britain&#8217;s computer crime<br \/>\nlaws. The defence has argued he is being unfairly targeted because his work<br \/>\nembarrassed the US security services, and that an attempt by US prosecutors to<br \/>\nmake a deal with McKinnon &#8211; in which he would be offered a six-month sentence<br \/>\nfor his cooperation &#8211; constituted an unfair derailment of British legal<br \/>\nprocedures. That contention was rejected by the law lords, who said granting the<br \/>\nappeal would &quot;imperil the integrity of the extradition process&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood said in the written judgment: &quot;The<br \/>\ndifference between the American system and our own is not perhaps so stark as<br \/>\nthe appellant&#8217;s argument suggests.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Computer security experts said it was unlikely US prosecutors would give up<br \/>\ntheir pursuit. &quot;The US is making a clear stand that anyone making any attempts<br \/>\nto compromise its computers and data will face the consequences,&quot; said Graham<br \/>\nCluley of the IT security company Sophos.<\/p>\n<p>McKinnon&#8217;s extradition was brought under the controversial <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/police.homeoffice.gov.uk\/publications\/operational-policing\/extradition-act-2003\">Extradition<br \/>\nAct 2003<\/a>, which was designed to deal with terrorist suspects but has been<br \/>\napplied in cases where terrorism has not been the primary concern.<\/p>\n<p>Under the act, America authorities are able to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Extradition_Act_2003\">demand a Briton&#8217;s<br \/>\nextradition without having to provide evidence<\/a>. However, Britain has to<br \/>\nprove its case in a US court to extradite US citizens to the UK.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called Natwest Three were extradited under the same legislation in<br \/>\n2006 and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/2008\/feb\/22\/banking.enron\">this year<br \/>\nsentenced to 37 months&#8217; imprisonment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Among the act&#8217;s critics is the former Tory MP Boris Johnson, now the London<br \/>\nmayor, who in 2005 called for extradition of British citizens to the US <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/p10.hostingprod.com\/@spyblog.org.uk\/freegary\/2005\/06\/early-day-motion-241-on-the-extradition-act-2003.html\">to<br \/>\nbe suspended<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>VIEW\/COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exopolitics.blogs.com\/exopolitics\/2008\/08\/breaking-news-g.html\">http:\/\/exopolitics.blogs.com\/exopolitics\/2008\/08\/breaking-news-g.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}