Fergie's Tech Blog

Update: NASA Hacker Case Adjourned Over Extradition Concerns

Graeme Wearden writes on C|Net News:

Gary McKinnon, the U.K. citizen accused of hacking into computer systems run by NASA and the U.S. military, will not be extradited across the Atlantic to face trial unless the U.S. can guarantee he won't be treated as a terrorist.

At a hearing at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, McKinnon's lawyers claimed that he could be detained indefinitely by the U.S. authorities. McKinnon is charged with illegally accessing 97 U.S. government computers and causing $700,000 worth of damage over a 12-month period starting in Feb. 2001.

Last year, McKinnon told ZDNet UK that he had accessed the computers because he was looking for evidence that the U.S. had found extraterrestrial life. He denied causing serious damage.

posted by Fergie @ 2/16/2006 11:10:00 AM