The American Civil Liberties Union came to the defense of British hacker Gary McKinnon on Thursday, decrying an extradition treaty that could soon see McKinnon standing trial in the U.S. on charges of cracking and damaging American military systems.
"The recent tragic case of Gary McKinnon highlights the need to ensure that an individual's case is properly judicially reviewed and the courts have the power to bar extradition if the interest of justice require it," wrote ACLU executive director Anthony Romero, in a letter (.pdf) to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Last month Britain's High Court rejected two extradition appeals by McKinnon, who is now awaiting word on whether he'll be permitted further appeal.
McKinnon, 43, is accused of breaching 97 unclassified U.S. government systems, and allegedly crashing some of them, in one case deleting critical files and causing the shutdown of the Army’s Military District of Washington network of over 2,000 computers for 24 hours. Federal prosecutors claim McKinnon's intrusions -- which took place from February 2001 to March 2002 -- caused over $700,000 in damage.
"U.S. foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these days," McKinnon wrote on a hacked Army computer in 2002. "It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year … I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels."
McKinnon has admitted cracking the systems and deliberately shutting down some of them, but claimed that he was primarily looking for evidence of a UFO cover up. McKinnon's lawyer admits the hacker intended the "temporary impairment" of some systems, but not any damage.
Of concern to the ACLU is a 2003 U.S. and UK extradition treaty that British supporters of McKinnon have long decried.
To win extradition of a American citizen under the treaty, British prosecutors have to provide an arrest warrant, and also share enough information with the U.S. to show "a reasonable basis to believe that the person sought committed the offense." But to extradite a a British citizen, the U.S. just needs a warrant.
The ACLU opposed the treaty in 2003, fearful that U.S. citizens could be extradited unjustly despite the "reasonable basis" language. In his letter Thursday, Romero says that concern remains, but that the treaty is "lopsided" against British citizens, who are "exposed to the risk of ill-founded extradition requests."
The ACLU declined to elaborate on how McKinnon's case, with so many damning admissions by the defendant, illustrates this point. But British supporters have emphasized McKinnon's recent diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome, and McKinnon's mother believes her son is too vulnerable to survive U.S. federal custody. The hacker's supporters in the U.K. include singers Peter Gabriel and Sting.
If convicted, McKinnon faces anywhere from six months to six-and-a-half years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, depending on how much damage he caused, and other factors.
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