Biggest military hack
Date: May 10, 2006Source: latimes.com
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For someone accused of perpetrating the biggest military hack of all time against U.S. computer systems, Gary McKinnon is surprisingly modest.
The self-taught computer enthusiast is accused of causing more than $700,000 in damage to Pentagon and NASA computer systems in 2001 and 2002 and is fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces as many as 70 years in prison or even incarceration as a terrorist at Guantanamo Bay.
McKinnon, 40, from north London, is appalled at the prospect but managed to quip: "I think the orange jumpsuits would clash with my red hair."
A final extradition hearing is set for Wednesday, but even after that, the appeals process could drag on for years. In the meantime, unemployed, he fills his days teaching himself programming skills and fixing friends' computers — "anything to keep from bouncing off the walls."
He does not surf the Internet much; one of his bail conditions limits him to a single, monitorable Internet address. But he does play a lot of computer games, and the favorite at the moment is "Rome: Total War," a strategy game from Sega Corp.
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