Saturday, July 16, 2005

An unemployed North Londoner has been accused of committing the "biggest military computer hack of all time" by the U.S. government while authorities in Britain chose to release him without charge. Gary McKinnon has a lot to worry about. His job prospects are bleak. He will shortly have to leave his home in North London and could be facing up to 70 years in a U.S. federal prison--a prospect that terrifies him. His actions have been well-recorded. Over a period of years he managed to bypass the security of what should be the most sophisticated IT systems on the planet, many of which belong to the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. That was back in 2002. McKinnon has already been investigated thoroughly by the legal authorities in the United Kingdom and released without charge.

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