Posted on 07/14/2009 7:22:17 AM PDT by myknowledge
A man who hacked into NASA computers will on Tuesday launch a last-ditch effort in Britain's High Court to avoid extradition to face charges in the United States.
Gary McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, has admitted to hacking into 97 US computers from his London home in 2001 and 2002 following the September 11 terror attacks.
The 43-year-old claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs and aliens on the high-security computer systems belonging to the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Department of Defence.
Former home secretary Jacqui Smith granted requests for McKinnon's extradition in October 2008, with the Crown Prosecution Service backing up Ms Smith's decision in February.
Two High Court judges will now begin a judicial review of the decisions after requests by McKinnon's lawyers who hope he can instead face trial in Britain.
If the unemployed computer administrator is extradited, he faces up to 60 years in jail if found guilty.
However if he stands trial in Britain, McKinnon is likely to face a much less severe sentence.
His mother Janis Sharp said she feared for her son's mental health if he was extradited.
"It's very frightening because you can feel that the end is very close," she told the Daily Mail.
"I am very scared because when I walk into the court it's like waiting to hear the death sentence."
McKinnon's lawyers claim prosecutors failed to take into account medical advice warning that their client could commit suicide if extradited.
They also argue it's inconsistent with previous cases involving Britons who hacked into US computers but were prosecuted on home soil.
The Crown Prosecution Service has stood by its decision to recommend extradition.
Newly appointed Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was up to prosecutors to decide whether McKinnon should stand trial in Britain or the US.
McKinnon's attacks on the US government computers allegedly caused mass chaos and caused an estimated $US900,000 ($A1.15 million) worth of damage.
US prosecutor Paul McNulty described it as "the biggest hack of military computers ever - at least ever detected".
Surely he can't hack into the foolproof computers of Area 51, they're offline!
Hah, they use alien crystal computers anyway.
Asperger’s is so close to normal it shouldn’t even be treated. Easy to hide behind, impossible to disprove. Anyone with an anti-social bent who prefers to be alone could fake it.
According to U papers, in this case it’s a recent diagnosis too - very convenient!
Who said conspiracy theories aren’t dangerous?
“His mother Janis Sharp said she feared for her son’s mental health if he was extradited. “
Give me a break! If he had positive mental health, at the time, he wouldn’t have hacked into any computer, let alone a Government’s system.
Can’t do the time? Then, don’t do the crime!
Were the NASA computers Microsoft ?If they were, NASA should be prosecuted for incompetence and complicity.
I find it interesting that the government is going to such lengths to bust a guy who at best is a trespasser. He didn't steal any money or release any classified info (with the exception of the "space navy" stuff, if true). Neither did he release warez into DoD systems, as far as I know. What he did do was embarass the DoD, and possibly reveal the deepest secret of all time...
Microsoft makes computers?
a Lone Gunmen wannabe?
Sure, he hacked into 97 high-security military computers (obviously not as secure as they SHOULD have been!) to satisfy curiosity about UFOs. He was not paid by any foreign entity for any information thus obtained. I believe him utterly. 8-)
Microsoft makes computers?
Microsoft software has been designed to be hackable. Any secure system must be Unix or some flavor thereof. I knew some ignorant person would say that !
Now he is really going inside the system.
LoL!
So, do they make computers, or the software? You clearly said microsoft computers, not software, so that makes YOU the ignorant person. If you don’t want to be called on your ignorant errors, don’t make them. Duh.
Once we get our hands on this guy, we should sentence him to a number of years of supervised “community service”, whereby he continues to hack our system so that we can find all of the security holes.
There are some people who try to parse I've been in the IT trade for forty years. Once you put an op/sys on a piece of hardware Hence the use of the term "microsoft computers" If you want security, you don't use microsoft software. If the US Government wants security, you use the software That is: some flavor of Unix©There are some people who stand in a garage
and think they are an automobile.
a sentence and think they are intelligent.
it takes on the characteristics of the software.
designed and funded to be secure against enemy attack.
And you came so close to being almost correct. Good try.
schmuck
May you one day know the lovingkindness and salvation of YHvH.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
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