British Hacker’s Extradition to U.S. Held Up

The extradition of Gary McKinnon was placed on hold by the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday until August 28, when the court will reconvene to make a decision whether to stop McKinnon’s extradition pending appeal.

McKinnon, who went by the online alias “Solo”, is accused of hacking in almost 100 U.S. military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002. He was tracked down in 2002 by the UK’s National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and indicted by the U.S. later that year. A UK court decided that he should be extradited to the U.S. in 2006, but McKinnon appealed to the High Court, which came down with a final ruling in favor of extradition on July 30.

If convicted, McKinnon could face up to 70 years in prison. American prosecutors have reportedly offered him a four-year sentence if he pleads guilty, but will press for the maximum penalty if he refuses.

McKinnon has admitted to hacking into American military systems but has said he was merely looking for information on UFOs, not intentionally causing damage. Here’s hoping that future conspiracy theorists will find a better way to indulge their curiosity; this is one example that they would be best off not following.