UK Hacker to be extradited

A British man who hacked in to military computer systems in the US is a step closer to being extradited to the United States after losing his latest court challenge.

42 year old Gary McKinnon could face an incredible 70 years in jail if the extradition goes ahead and he is found guilty of hacking in to the secure systems. He does not deny the charges but states he was only looking for documents relating to UFOs. It is claimed the man, from North London, hacked in to 97 government owned computers including those of NASA and the US Navy. He has made several bids to have his case heard in the UK but the Crime Prosecution Service have now determined the case should be heard in the United States. McKinnon hacked in to the systems between 2001 and 2002 and it is said his actions caused around $800,000 of damage. His only chance to avoid being extradited now will come in the form of a judicial review. Alison Saunders, who heads up the Crime Prosecution Service organized crime decision said: "The evidence we have does not come near to reflecting the criminality that is alleged by the American authorities." She continued: "These were not random experiments in computer hacking, but a deliberate effort to breach US defence systems at a critical time which caused well-documented damage. "They may have been conducted from Mr McKinnon's home computer - and in that sense there is a UK link - but the target and the damage were transatlantic. "The bulk of the evidence is located in the United States, the activity was directed against the military infrastructure of the United States, the investigation commenced in the United States and was ongoing, and there are a large number of witnesses, most of whom are located in the United States."