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1 days and 19 hours ago
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width="1" height="1" //divpThe British man accused of hacking into US military computers will have
his final showdown in the UK courts next month./ppAfter almost four years of fighting extradition
to the US as a result of what prosecutors have called "the biggest military computer hack of all
time", Londoner Gary McKinnon will face a judicial review conducted by the high court on January
20./ppMcKinnon – who used the online name Solo – is accused
of hacking into computers belonging to the Pentagon, Nasa and US armed forces in raids conducted
between 2001 and 2002./ppProsecutors say he shut down thousands of machines and caused up to
$700,000 worth of damage, while the 42-year-old claims he was searching for evidence of
UFOs./ppOver the course of the case, defence lawyers argued that McKinnon will face unduly harsh
punishment for his actions and should instead face trial in the UK, since the alleged hacking
attacks were conducted from a house in north London./ppBy the time the decision is made, it will be
almost seven years since McKinnon ended his activities. During that time a succession of arguments
have been made against his removal – including that he faces up to 60 years in
prison or detention at Guantánamo Bay, and that he should receive leniency because he
suffers from Aspberger's syndrome./ppSuch protestations have so far proved unsuccessful, however,
with a string of decisions against him, including rulings by the law lords and the home secretary.
McKinnon's last chance to avoid removal to the US will come in next month's judicial
review./ppProsecutors acting for the government argued that McKinnon's review should take place
today but his lawyers succeeded in pushing it back until the new year./ppThe news brought cheer to
some campaigners who see the date as an auspicious sign. Coinciding with the inauguration of Barack
Obama as president, supporters at the Free Gary website suggested the date could be the equivalent
of "waving a couple of fingers" at the Bush administration./ppIn recent months campaigners
– including a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/03/gary-kinnon-hacker-aspergers-extradition"former
home secretary David Blunkett/a have argued that McKinnon should be tried in the UK because of his
medical condition. /ppHis supporters are hopeful that they can sway the final judgment,
particularly after Gordon Brown spoke about the case publicly for the first time last week and
hinted that McKinnon may not end up in a US jail./ppDuring prime minister's questions last week,
Brown was asked about McKinnon's situation and said that existing conventions would enable him to
serve any prison sentence in Britain, rather than in the US./pp"The UK and the US are signatories
to the Council of Europe convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, which enables a person
found guilty in the United States of America to serve their sentence in the UK," he told MPs./pdiv
style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/hacking"Hacking/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/law"Law and technology/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/security"Computer security/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa"United States/a/li/ul/diva
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