When we last heard from Gary McKinnon (a.k.a. the NASA hacker), he had lost his appeal against extradition to the United States. Following that decision, McKinnon's lawyers said they would fight the recent dismissal in the British House of Lords and take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in France. They did just that, and the European Court of Human Rights has duly granted McKinnon "interim relief".
European Court of Human Rights allows McKinnon to stay in the U.K., for now. (IMG:J.Anderson)
This means, for the time being, that Gary McKinnon, the thirty-nine-year-old systems administrator accused of hacking several United States Government computers, will not be visiting a U.S. courtroom anytime soon.
The Strasbourg-based court said that McKinnon would be allowed to remain in the U.K. until the court returns for another session on August 28. At that time, he will learn if his “Hail Mary” of an appeal has worked. If this final appeal is rejected, McKinnon will be promptly dispatched to the U.S. to face trial.
"The presidents of the European Court of Human Rights have granted interim relief to Gary McKinnon for a period of two weeks until 28 August, 2008, for the application to be heard before the full chamber," said McKinnon’s lawyer Karen Todner in a statement.
The charges against McKinnon stem from hacking sessions that deleted or accessed critical systems and files between February of 2001 and March of 2002. Among the systems accessed were computers owned by NASA, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Air Force.
McKinnon's reasoning for the hacks was to uncover confidential information related to anti-gravity propulsion systems and extraterrestrial technology, which he believed the authorities were hiding from the public.
If extradited and found guilty in the U.S. courts, McKinnon could face up to 70 years in prison and fines of up to $1.75 million USD.
McKinnon does not deny the charges that he gained administrator rights and accessed the listed systems, even saying that he used a program called 'Remotely Anywhere', which is similar to 'PC Anywhere' in terms of scope and functionality.
"I got caught because I was using a graphical remote control tool and I forgot what timezone I was in," McKinnon said shortly after his arrest. "Somebody was in the office when I was moving the mouse around."
According to what amount to mostly rumors in the press, U.S. prosecutors have offered McKinnon a four-year sentence if he pleads guilty to the charges; if he doesn’t, then they will push for the full 70-year sentence.
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