E.T. phone home?
A British hacker who has an obsession with unidentified flying objects seemed to think sci-fi movies aren’t enough so what did he do? He decided to break into 97 military and NASA computer systems to look for evidence about UFOs.
Gary McKinnon will be tried in America and if convicted, he may be facing a 70-year sentence. He has been appealing in the British judicial system to avoid extradition to these shores. His lawyers had argued that McKinnon should not be extradited because he suffers from Asperger syndrome, and could be at risk for psychosis or suicide if sent to United States, an article from EmaxHealth says.
People with Asperger syndrome have difficulties in social interaction, show restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.
The 43-year old man doesn’t deny that he had hacked into the computers in 2001 and 2002 but he claims he has no intention whatsoever to compromise US security – he just wanted to find secret info about UFOs.
His hacking efforts which started February of 2001 to March of the following year however, caused significant disturbances such as the hack that knocked seven hundred computers at a New Jersey naval station offline immediately after the 9/11 incident.
McKinnon was first issued a warrant in October 2001 and extradition efforts began in late 2004.
Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/British-hacker-will-be-extradited-to-US-for-trial/1249035677
