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He left messages on the desktops of computers he had hacked into, a mistake that allowed the authorities to trace
him.
"It got a bit silly," he told the Guardian in 2005. "I suppose it means I'm not a secretive, sophisticated, checkingmyself-every-step-of-the-way type of hacker."
McKinnon's lawyers have argued that he should face trial in the UK as the hacking raids were conducted in Britain. If
the courts supported such a decision it would mean he would face a much smaller sentence under the UK's more
lenient computer crime laws. The defence argued he was being unfairly targeted because his work embarrassed the
US security services.
They also argued that an attempt by US prosecutors to make a deal with McKinnon - in which he would be offered a
six-month sentence for his cooperation - constituted an unfair derailment of British legal procedures. That contention
was rejected by the law lords, who said that granting the appeal would "imperil the integrity of the extradition
process".
Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood said in the written judgment: "The difference between the American system
and our own is not perhaps so stark as the appellant's argument suggests."
Computer security experts said it was unlikely US prosecutors would give up their pursuit. "The US is making a clear
stand that anyone making any attempts to compromise its computers and data will face the consequences," said
Graham Cluley, of IT security company Sophos.
PAST AND PRESENT
In the earliest days of computer hacking the main culprits were precocious teenagers with too much time on their
hands. Among the early pioneers was British hacker Robert Schifreen, who broke into BT's networks and gained
access to private inboxes - including one belonging to Prince Philip. A jury trial in 1985 acquitted Schifreen of any
wrongdoing - although his case resulted in the Computer Misuse Act of 1990 He now works as an IT consultant.
Hacker Kevin Poulsen became famous for a series of audacious stunts which netted him large sums of money. His
greatest hack involved commandeering the phone lines of a Los Angeles radio competition to ensure that he would
be the caller who won a Porsche sports car. Poulsen was found guilty for a series of crimes in 1994 and sentenced to
51 months in prison. He is now a journalist for technology bible Wired.
Today hacking is popular with organised crime, with hackers employed to commit large-scale fraud. Chief among
them is Titan Rain, a gang of unknowns allegedly linked to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which has raids
against government computers in Britain, the US and Germany.