Hacking into US military computer networks
Date: May 15, 2006Source: BBC News
The UK's hacking community has strongly criticised how fellow hacker Gary McKinnon has been treated.
Accused of hacking into US military computer networks, Mr McKinnon this week is expected to find out if he is to be extradited for trial in the US.
British hackers say he is being made an example of to serve political ends rather than improve computer security.
The punishment he faces, up to 70 years in jail, was also too harsh a sentence for the crimes he has confessed to.
No defence
The US government alleges that between February 2001 and March 2002, Mr McKinnon repeatedly hacked into dozens of computers used by the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense.
While Mr McKinnon has admitted that he spent years wandering round military computer networks, he denies that his hacking was ever motivated by anything other than curiosity.
Despite this, the US government is attempting to extradite him to stand trial for what one American prosecutor called "the biggest military computer hack of all time".
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