The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that computer hacker Gary McKinnon will not face charges in the UK, bringing his 10-year legal battle to a close.

McKinnon had been accused of gaining unauthorised access to 97 US government computers between 1 February 2001 and 19 March 2002, prompting demands for him to be extradited to the US to stand trial.

He previously admitted accessing the computers, claiming he was looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life, and had been facing the threat of up to 60 years in prison.

I feel the last 10 years have been gruelling.

Earlier this year, Home Secretary Theresa May quashed calls for McKinnon to be extradited to the US to stand trial, citing medical factors.

In a statement, the CPS has now confirmed there are no plans to commence a new criminal investigation into McKinnon, adding that the prospects of a conviction against him are not high.

"The potential difficulties in bringing a case in England and Wales now should not be underestimated, not least the passage of time, [and] the logistics of transferring sensitive evidence prepared for a court in the US to London for trial," the CPS statement said.

"US authorities indicated...they would be willing to co-operate with a prosecution...[but] they do not consider making all the US witnesses available for trial in London and transferring all of the US material for this jurisdiction would be in the interests of justice," it added.

Speaking to BBC News, Janis Sharp, McKinnon's mother, said she was delighted by the ruling.

"Gary admitted to the intrusion, he always denied the damage. I feel the 10 years have been gruelling, it's been life-destroying. It's difficult to explain how bad it's been," she said.

"To have this over is amazing. Gary's gone through enough. Other people have been accused of more serious hacking in this country and they've been given a 1,000 fine and a very short community sentence."

A student accused of breaching piracy laws is facing extradition to the US, where he could get up to five years in jail.

Sheffield Hallam student Richard O'Dwyer, the 23-year-old behind the TVShack website, lost his case at Westminster Magistrates' Court, but his lawyer indicated an appeal would be made.

US authorities believe TVShack, which O'Dwyer's lawyer Ben Cooper claimed hosts links to content rather than the actual content itself, breaches copyright laws.

The case was brought by the US Customs and Border Protection agency and no criminal charges were lodged by British authorities. TVShack was shut down by US authorities.

A 19-year-old British kid built a search engine, gets sued by US Government and is now fighting extradition to USA.

O-Dwyer's mother, who told the BBC she was not fully aware of what her son's website did, said Britain's extradition treaty with the US was "rotten."

Some from the tech industry have expressed their opinions over the case on Twitter.

"A 19-year-old British kid built a search engine, gets sued by US Government and is now fighting extradition to USA," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security firm F-Secure.

The case comes at a time when the Government is under pressure from MPs to review how it handles extradition hearings.

An independent review of the UK's current extradition arrangements carried out by Sir Scott Baker in 2010 claimed the current treaty between the US and the UK was fair.

However, the Joint Committee on Human Rights has called on the Government to renegotiate the UK-US agreement to ensure UK citizens get equal treatment to Americans.

The case of Gary McKinnon, who was accused of hacking into US military and NASA systems, continues as he also looks to avoid extradition.

Wikileaks week

The world of politics was thrown into disarray on Monday when whistle blowing website Wikileaks unleashed 250,000 US embassy cable communications, revealing secrets many Governments would have preferred to have kept quiet.

However, the tech world felt some of the consequences with selections of the information leaked affected big companies and Government tech issues.

First to come to the forefront was the revelation China's Politburo had ordered a hack attack on Google earlier this year. It was widely believed to have been the case but this was the first written confirmation from a Chinese contact admitting it to the American Embassy in Beijing.

Later in the week, a new cable got Gordon Brown back in the headlines after his departure from Downing Street. The communication showed the former Prime Minister had made a personal request for computer hacker Gary McKinnon to spend any of his jail time for hacking into NASA and the Pentagon's computer systems in the UK.

But not everyone seemed to enjoy being in the spotlight and the site has fallen victim to a number of Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS).

The first attack was launched on Sunday as it began to leak documents and responsibility was claimed by a hacker calling themselves th3j35t3r.'

A further DDoS attack was launched on Tuesday "exceeding 10 Gigabits a second," which would have been double the speed of the previous one.

Now the back and forth seems to be surrounding where founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange was keeping the files. Initially Assange moved the files from his Swedish service provider to Amazon's EC2 cloud offering. However, in a matter of days, his files were ejected from the Amazon data centres and were suspected to have moved back to the original provider.

The week concluded with EveryDNS.net removing its support for Wikileaks and forcing Assange to change the domain name to a Swiss-based address.

Where the story goes from here is anybody's guess but we will be keeping you up to date with all the tech related leaks as it happens.

Ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally asked the US Government to allow Gary McKinnon to serve his sentence in the UK, according to Wikileaks.

The latest cable to be revealed by The Guardian this week showed the former Labour leader had asked Louis Susman, the US ambassador for the UK, to allow the computer hacker to serve the time for his crime on British shores rather than being extradited.

"PM Brown, in a one-on-one meeting with the ambassador, proposed a deal that McKinnon plead guilty, make a statement of contrition, but serve any sentence of incarceration in the UK," wrote Susman in a cable to secretary of state Hilary Clinton in August 2009.

"Brown cited deep public concern that McKinnon, with his medical condition, would commit suicide or suffer injury if imprisoned in a US facility."

When Clinton then visited the UK in October last year, Susman again warned the McKinnon issue was likely to arise.

"McKinnon has gained enormous popular sympathy in his appeal against extradition; the UK's final decision is pending." he wrote. "The case has also caused public criticism of the US-UK extradition treaty."

The plea appeared to fall on deaf ears, however, as no progress was made.

The current Prime Minister, David Cameron, also brought up the McKinnon case in December, when he was the leader of the opposition.

"Cameron said he had raised the extradition with the ambassador in an earlier conversation because the case was a matter of concern for many in the British public," Susman said.

"British people generally feel McKinnon is guilty 'but they are sympathetic'," Cameron said.

A home affairs committee hearing to look at the validity of the extradition demands is due to start today, headed by Keith Vaz, with McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp set to give evidence.

McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, was found guilty of hacking into NASA and Pentagon computer systems in 2001 and 2002. However, he claimed he was not attempting to breach national security but instead find proof of the existence of aliens.

He has been appealing against his extradition since February 2007.

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron have discussed finding a solution to the potential extradition of hacker Gary McKinnon to the US.

Cameron said whilst he did not want to influence other talks around the "significant crime" McKinnon stands accused of, the PM hoped "a way through [could] be found".

"I trust this will get resolved in a way that underscores the seriousness of the issue but also underscores the fact that we work together and we can find an appropriate solution," Obama told journalists during a press conference at the White House.

However, Obama noted the president does not get involved in extradition decisions.

"What I expect is that my team will follow the law but they will also coordinate closely with an ally that is unparalleled in terms of our cooperative relationship [the UK]," the President said.

Obama also pointed to the seriousness of the cyber crime threat and the importance of fighting it with the help of the UK.

"We are going to see enormous amounts of vulnerability when it comes to information," he added.

Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother, told BBC Radio 5 live it was "wonderful" she had seen Cameron and Obama discussing her son on TV.

"David Cameron and Nick Clegg have always said that they wouldn't extradite Gary, he would be tried in the UK if they got in, and they are in now and I believe they'll keep that promise no matter what," she said.

Sharp added her son was "obviously hopeful" but remained in a "frightened, tense state" over the potential extradition.

Despite Sharp's hopes, Deputy Prime Minister Clegg recently suggested he was unsure how easy it would be for the government to prevent McKinnon, an Asperger's Syndrome sufferer, from being extradited to the US.

UK customers get their hands on the iPad

Today saw throngs of people queuing excitedly as Apple opened its stores and let UK customers get their hands on an iPad for the first time.

It has been a rocky road getting the tablet device from across the pond, with continued delays due to high US demand.

But now it is flying off the shelves internationally and causing quite a stir with techies everywhere.

McKinnon's hopes dashes again

With a new Government came new hope for the McKinnon family, as Home Secretary Theresa May granted the hacker a reprieve from extradition until she had reviewed the facts of the case.

However, this week saw Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, backtrack on previous promises to save McKinnon from facing trial in the US, saying the Government may not have the powers to stop it.

[a href="https://www.itpro.com/623755/q-a-janis-sharp-speaks-out-about-her-son-gary-mckinnon" target="_blank"]In an exclusive interview with IT PRO, McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said she was nervous about his future and felt the coalition was his "only chance" of avoiding extradition.

Best of the rest...

Facebook has redesigned its privacy controls to try and quash fears about the safety of users' data on the social network.

BT has been grabbing the headlines too. Its chief executive has reportedly received a 1 million bonus and its staff may be preparing to strike.

HP lost ground to Acer in the mobile PC market but managed to snatch top spot in the server industry away from IBM.

The past week has likely been one of hope and confusion for Gary McKinnon.

The admitted hacker and Asperger's sufferer is looking to avoid extradition to the US over charges he cracked into government systems there. His mother Janis Sharp has been one of his chief supporters and a vocal campaigner, drawing in support from the likes of the Daily Mail, Sting, and Nick Clegg - now Deputy Prime Minister.

Indeed, the coalition Government has been a source of some hope for the family, with Home Secretary Theresa May last week holding off on a judicial review in order to review new medical reports.

However, the light at the end of the tunnel had some shadow cast on it as Clegg has now suggested he may not actually have the legal clout to do anything to prevent McKinnon's extradition.

In an exclusive interview with IT PRO, Sharp talks about her worries for her son and why she thinks the coalition will be positive for the case despite Clegg's claims.

The coalition Government has halted the latest judicial review, but given mixed signals on the eventual outcome. How does it feel that Gary's ordeal - and yours - might finally be over?

I'm still very nervous, probably more than ever and until we have a definite decision that Gary is to be kept in the UK I can't relax.

Even if Gary is kept in the UK, he might face a UK trial. Do you think that's likely to happen and how would he hold up?

I do think it's likely to happen and the relief of being kept in his own country cannot be overstated. Gary would have to cope and would have the support of his family and friends around him which is vital to his well-being.

How much of the - hopefully - eventual success of avoiding extradition has been down to luck - having Labour booted out at the election - and how much of it has been down to the campaign you've headed up?

I think the campaign has helped a lot as it has highlighted the injustice of the one-sided extradition treaty. I also think that having the new coalition Government is the only chance that Gary has of not being extradited and we're incredibly pleased that in the coalition agreement on page 14 section 6 they have said they intend to change the extradition treaty with the US to make it even-handed/equal.

You've had a lot of success with your campaign - how much of that is down to new tech like Twitter and social networking, and how much is down to the old-fashioned methods of meeting people and writing letters and getting newspaper coverage?

We've had incredible support from a wide range of people and organizations such as Gary's amazing legal team who Gary describes as Super Heroes and also Liberty, Bell Yard, The National Autistic Association and numerous newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Guardian, The Telegraph, The Sunday Post, The Express and many others plus various computer mags including the Register, Zdnet, the Inquirer and other publications including this one.

Over 3,000 people on Twitter have Free Gary on their Twitter avatar and many more support Gary and have become close Twitter friends that have helped me to keep my spirits up when I've been at rock bottom.

There are also more than 7,000 followers on Facebook who support Gary and get letters and emails from all over the world and from many parents of vulnerable and autistic children in the UK and elsewhere.

There are too many people, organizations and celebrities to mention so this campaign is essentially an amazing example of true People Power, when people from diverse walks of life flock together to fight injustice. In that respect we're very, very lucky.

I'm fortunate that so many people including celebrities and good cross party politicians see this one-sided extradition treaty and what's happening to Gary as totally unjust.

This treaty was signed in the aftermath of 9/11 and we were led to believe it was to be used for terrorists but the treaty is clearly being misused by US prosecutors who are extraditing many vulnerable people who are clearly the furthest thing from terrorists that you could get. These people include Gary, Liz Prosser, Brian and Kerry Howes and Ian Norris among others.

In the text of the extradition treaty it clearly says that the treaty must not be used retrospectively but US prosecutors are applying the treaty retrospectively by regularly using a loophole of issuing superseding indictments, commonly many years later and often with barely any difference from the original indictment, which allows them to go back an infinite number of years and to, without providing any evidence, extradite any British citizen whose crime was in fact committed retrospectively.

Gary's alleged crime was committed in 2001/2002 before the extradition treaty was even written or signed. The passage of time involved inflicts great mental torture on anyone left in limbo for the intervening years.

We asked our readers their thoughts on your son's ordeal, and nearly all backed keeping him in the UK, but many also think the Government should give him a job - he's clearly very skilled, and the UK Government has had a few security issues of its own. Has Gary had any job offers of the sort, or is he preferring/required to avoid computer work?

Gary has not had any offers of work and although being left on the internet for three-and-a-half years after his arrest in March 2002, he was barred from using the internet in June 2005 when the extradition request was eventually being dealt with by the courts.

When this is all over, what do you and he hope to do next? Or are you not thinking that far ahead yet?

We'll probably cry for a year and will try and remember what it's like to have a normal life and not to have to live with this fear during every waking moment.

Before all of this I wrote a children's book called Lester Square and I made an independent film called Lunar Girl. We're musicians and I write songs and would love to write a musical one day and to include Gary's songs but my only hope and dream right now is for Gary to be free and to have his life back again. Nothing else matters.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said it's not so easy to prevent Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US, despite last year lambasting the Government for failing to take action.

McKinnon admits hacking into US government computers, but has been trying to avoid extradition to the US to stand trial because he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.

McKinnon's case has now been before six different Home Secretaries, but the recent election had given some hope to the North Londoner and his supporters.

Both Clegg and Prime Minister David Cameron had offered support for McKinnon in the past, while new Home Secretary Theresa May last week halted a judicial review to give herself more time to look into the most recent medical reports.

Now, it looks like that hope may have been premature. Clegg told BBC Radio that he would still prefer McKinnon to be tried in the UK, but that it may not be possible.

"What I haven't got the power to do, neither has the home secretary, neither even has the Prime Minister, is to completely reverse and undo certain legal aspects of this," he said. "But that, of course, you wouldn't want politicians to do."

Not what he said last year...

The comments are in stark contrast to his previous energetic campaigning on behalf of McKinnon.

Last year, he criticised then Home Secretary Alan Johnson in an article for the Daily Mail. He wrote that the "decision to allow Gary McKinnon to be extradited to the US is a hammer blow to British justice."

"Expert lawyers assure me that, even at this 11th hour, the Government could prosecute him for those crimes here at home, instead of in the US," he added. "It is imperative that it does so. Quite simply, the rest of Mr McKinnon's life is on the line."

Clegg also backed McKinnon in October, calling on the Home Secretary to take legal action in the face of a new report into McKinnon's mental state.

"The Home Secretary has sat on his hands for too long, even in the face of legal advice from leading advocates that contradicts the Home Office's position," he told the Daily Mail.

"This new psychiatric report into Gary McKinnon's condition must persuade him that it is no longer acceptable to shrug his shoulders and claim that nothing can be done," he added.

"Alan Johnson should do the decent thing and intervene to ensure that Gary is tried in Britain, where he committed his crime and confessed to it," he said.

In December, Clegg attended a protest in support of McKinnon, telling the Telegraph he'd seen legal advice that said the Government could in fact do something to prevent the extradition.

"This treaty is wrong and Gary McKinnon's extradition to the USA must be stopped," he told the newspaper at the time. "The Government can change this. We say to them: You can do this if you have the courage of your convictions to do the right thing'."

At the moment, McKinnon's case is effectively on hold, while new Home Secretary May examines the most recent reports. It's unclear what the Government's next move will be.

Clegg's turnaround will be a tough blow to McKinnon and his mother Janis Sharp, who has led the campaign to prevent his extradition.

"Gary is still terrified and undergoing a state of ongoing heightened stress but today's news gives us hope, at last, that his ordeal may soon be over. We need it to be over and totally believe that the new coalition will keep their promises and allow Gary to be tried in his own country," she said last week.

The final court case to extradite Gary McKinnon the US to face hacking charges has been called off, as the new government appears set to live up to promises to keep the Apsergers Syndrome sufferer in the country.

The Home Office has confirmed it has asked the court to hold off a looming judicial review, after an appeal from McKinnon's lawyers.

New Home Secretary Theresa May apparently would like to look into the medical argument behind the latest appeal, which argues McKinnon would be at risk of suicide if sent to stand trial in the US and should instead be tried here.

McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner said May is looking for more time to examine the case, which has now been before six Home Secretaries. "The secretary of state, having recently taken office and having received further representations from the claimant's representatives, wishes to have appropriate time fully to consider the issues in the case," Todner said in a statement.

"I hope this may be a signal of a more compassionate and caring Home Secretary and one that is willing to defend the rights of our citizens," she added.

McKinnon's mother is optimistic about the news.

"Last year Cameron said he could see no compassion in sending Gary away to the other side of the world when he could be tried here in the UK and Clegg said extraditing Gary would be a'"travesty of justice,' she said in a statement.

"I am therefore confident that the new Government will do the right thing and halt Gary's extradition so that he may face trial in the UK, without the further unnecessary risks to his mental health that extradition would bring."

She added: "Gary is still terrified and undergoing a state of ongoing heightened stress but today's news gives us hope, at last, that his ordeal may soon be over. We need it to be over and totally believe that the new coalition will keep their promises and allow Gary to be tried in his own country."

Home Secretary has defended his refusal to halt Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US to stand trial for hacking government computers.

McKinnon's supporters have argued his Asperger's Syndrome needs to be taken into account, saying the North Londoner is at risk of suicide if sent to an American prison.

"Gary McKinnon is accused and has admitted to some very serious offences over a 14-month period in America he has to face the courts there," Johnson told the Enfield Advertiser.

"Having Asperger's isn't a reason why you can't face the courts. Actually, there are people who have much more serious mental illnesses than Asperger's who the courts have decided must still face the music for what they've done."

Johnson again repeated his claim that he is unable to interfere with the extradition. "Politicians don't decide whether to prosecute people: it's a fundamental part of the way our country runs. The director of public prosecutions decides and it is his decision to prosecute Gary McKinnon and his decision to prosecute him in America to extradite him."

While McKinnon has won another last appeal in the courts, set for 25 May, Johnson said that it's with good reason that McKinnon's case has repeatedly failed to convince judges. "That's because the action was against America, the witnesses are in America, and so that's that."

Johnson also claimed the Government has offered support to McKinnon's family over the years since the 2001 hacking incident. "I believe the criminal justice system has been there for the family," he told the Enfield Independent.

Read on for a timeline of McKinnon's court ordeal.

Google picks a fight with China

It's the battle of the beasts this week, as Google picked a fight with China - or really, China picked a fight with Google.

Basically, Google has censored its search results in China for years, at the behest of the government, blocking out results for terms like Falun Gong. The search giant this week said it just might stop doing that - which would mean it would have to stop operations in the company - after it became aware that Chinese hackers were targeting GMail accounts of human rights activists. The attacks apparently took advantage of a known flaw in Internet Explorer.

China said Google is being silly, and that its internet is free and open - which of course it famously isn't. While they've since said they'd like Google to stick around, they won't exactly be without search, as Google runs second in that market by a huge margin to local provider Baidu.

While it's hard to see why the attacks have suddenly angered Google - considering it was censoring such people itself via its own search - at least they're finally starting to live up to their own "Do No Evil" motto.

Microsoft intends to stick around in China, with chief executive Steve Ballmer saying he doesn't understand Google's move, as such cyber attacks are "every day" activities.

The tech sector has recovered

Cheer up, it's 2010 and economic horrors of 2009 are long over - according to analysts, at least.

Forrester piped up earlier this week to declare that the "technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over".

That firm's happy thoughts were echoed later in the week when Gartner's PC shipment numbers showed a 22 per cent increase in growth over last year - the highest growth rate in seven years. Analyst Mikako Kitagawa said this showed the markets had recovered.

Intel proved their analysis by posting an 875 per cent income jump - that's not a typo. Sure, the huge jump was made possible by the horrible results of last year, but it's still a clear sign of recovery at one of the tech's bellwethers.

Educational tech for kids

The BETT educational technology show hit London this week, bringing with it oodles of new interactive whiteboards, ruggedised netbooks and other student-friendly gadgets - check out our video about Dell's vision of the classroom of the future.

The powers that be used the show as an opportunity to push their long-discussed programme to supply free PCs and broadband to children of low-income families.

TalkTalk took some issue with that, calling it "muddled thinking" given the government is also set to start taxing everyone with a broadband line.

Meanwhile, an Intel survey showed teachers think every student in their class should have their very own laptop.

iPhone versus Nexus One hots up

Google's Nexus One arrived last week, sparking off another iPhone-killer standoff - as if we haven't had enough of those already.

So far, it doesn't look to be doing the job. While it hasn't been released in the UK on a network yet, it has gone out in the US - but the much anticipated Google phone has only sold 20,000. That might sound good, but it's not only a fraction of the iPhone's sales, but fewer sales than other less vaunted phones, too.

Apparently, the Nexus One costs $175 to make, and Google promised the next version will be a bit more business friendly.

Meanwhile, the iPhone was added to the another UK operators shelves this week, and is now available on the Vodafone network.

The best of the rest

One of the founders of the Darkmarket site faces 10 years in jail, while Microsoft, Adobe and Oracle all offer up security patches.

The Information Commissioner's Office has won the right to fine people as much as 500,000 for data breaches.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg thinks we don't care about privacy online, and Gary McKinnon has won another stay of extradition with a judicial review, so he's staying in the UK until at least the spring.

The saga of Gary McKinnon is set to continue, as his lawyer has won the right to a High Court review of his pending extradition to the US to stand trial for hacking charges.

The judicial review will examine Home Secretary Alan Johnson's claim that he could not intervene in the case and prevent the extradition.

While McKinnon admits hacking into Pentagon and NASA computers, he denies the level of damage claimed and is said to be at risk of suicide because of his Asperger's Syndrome.

The judicial review will consider if Johnson's decision not to halt the extradition was correct. It is set to take place in April or May, with McKinnon allowed to stay in the UK until then.

McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner said in a statement: "I would urge Mr Johnson to review his decision, and I appeal to [American President Barack] Obama to withdraw the application for extradition. Mr McKinnon's suffering has gone on long enough."

McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp expressed her relief over Twitter. "We're so pleased and the sense of relief is indescribable," she wrote, later adding: "Couldn't stop crying when heard the news. Gary says he's still in shock."

Sharp and McKinnon's other supporters are currently running a texting and download campaign to put pressure on the Government.

More delays hit Windows Mobile 7

Microsoft still can't seem to make up it mind as to when Windows Mobile 7 will be released but it is clearly later than originally planned.

This week Microsoft UK's head of mobility, Phil Moore, said that the release had been put back until late 2010 just a few weeks after Microsoft Office vice president Kurt Delbene claimed it would be released in March.

It seems that fans of Microsoft's mobile operating systems will have to put up with Windows Mobile 6.5 for a bit longer.

Obama puts up the bucks for broadband

Investment by the US Government in broadband infrastructure has been in the pipeline for sometime but now it has come to fruition with the announcement this week of $2 billion going towards national schemes.

The investment will see 18 broadband projects across 17 states and is just the first section of a $7.2 billion budget to bring broadband to unserved or underserved US communities.

Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist also said the Government expects the schemes to provide tens of thousands of jobs which will be a great boost in this difficult economic situation.

EU decides on browser ballot

After months of deliberating, the European Commission and rival firm Opera have decided that Microsoft must advertise other browsers to keep competition fair.

Before Microsoft and simply been bundling in Internet Explorer with its operating systems but now it has been made law that a browser ballot scheme must be in place, advertising rival browsers for the consumer to chose from.

The law says the company will have to do this across Europe for the next five years.

Best of the rest

The Gary McKinnon saga continued this week as a protest was staged on Tuesday at the Home Office against his extradition.

More iPhone apps hit the news with The Guardian updating its offering for the popular smartphone as well as Amazon introducing the Kindle iPhone app to the UK. Whereas Android's Market reached the 20,000 app milestone.

And the European Commission decided it wanted to protect our ears by imposing compulsory volume restrictions to MP3 players sold in Europe.

Supporters yesterday braved cold weather in London to show their support for hacker Gary McKinnon - and to push the government to halt his extradition to the US to face charges of breaking into Pentagon and NASA systems.

McKinnon's lawyers, supporters and mother have argued to courts, parliament and through the newspapers that the extradition treaty between the two countries is unfair. They also fear the Asperger's Syndrome sufferer could commit suicide if sent to serve time in the US.

Yesterday, about 50 supporters protested outside the Home Office, before heading to Buckingham Palace in the hopes of urging the Queen to step in.

Those supporters included MPs Nick Clegg and David Burrowes, as well as McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp, according to a report in the Telegraph.

Burrowes, who is McKinnon's MP, told the paper: "We have to got to try we can to make sure that the home secretary knows the strength of feeling. The case for Gary increases each day."

Click here for our timeline of the Gary McKinnon case.

Supporters of Gary McKinnon are set to gather in front of the Home Office in London today, to protest his looming extradition to face hacking charges in the US.

The Asperger's Syndrome sufferer admits hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers, but his supporters argue he should be tried in the UK, not the US.

A series of medical reports claiming he's at risk of suicide if held in a US prison have not been enough to sway Home Secretary Alan Johnson to halt the extradition.

The protest was originally planned to take place in front of Buckingham Palace, as McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp believes the Queen could influence the decision - as she gave the extradition treaty her approval before it came into force - or at the very least bring it to the attention of the right people.

Following a request from police, the protest has moved to the main Home Office location, Peel Building on Marsham Street in London between noon and 2pm, according to the Free Gary website.

On her Twitter feed, Sharp noted that MPs Keith Vaz, Nick Clegg and David Burrowes would be attending the protest.

For those that can't attend but wish to show support, Sharp asked people to send flowers or notes to Buckingham Palace, and to email or call the Home Office.

She added via Twitter: "If people can even come to protest for a few minutes in their lunch break this will be a huge help."

Gary McKinnon's lawyers have filed another appeal to try to keep the admitted hacker from being extradited to the US, where he faces trial for breaking into Pentagon and NASA systems.

McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner and supporters have been arguing that Home Secretary Alan Johnson should halt the extradition, saying the hacker's Asperger's Syndrome and delicate mental state puts him at risk of suicide.

The new legal challenge from his lawyers asks for the high court to reconsider giving McKinnon a fresh hearing. The appeal is based on two new medical reports, which reportedly suggest the American legal system is unable to properly deal with McKinnon's health issues.

Johnson will have 14 days to consider the request before it goes before a judge, meaning McKinnon's extradition has again been slowed.

Click here for our timeline of the Gary McKinnon case.

Google gives ground in online news battle

Google appears to be trying to calm tensions in the online content war, telling publishers it will limit how many free stories readers can access from the Google News aggregation site.

But the battle's not over, as Google chief executive Eric Schmidt wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal saying his site isn't to blame for the media industry's troubles.

Microsoft's black screen of death

A security firm called Prevx claimed the latest round of security patches from Microsoft was causing a "black screen of death" on computers.

Microsoft denied the claims and then the security firm withdrew the accusation and begged forgiveness days later, saying it had been wrong along.

Computers are still blacking out, but it's apparently because of malware, not Microsoft.

The best of the rest

A Liverpudlian designer has created an iPhone worth millions take that, Tesco. Twitter was dubbed word of the year, and Office 2010 is set to arrive in June.

An EU shakeup sees some top IT figures shuffled to new roles, and Sony Ericsson patches a flaw in its Satio handset, but it's not enough to get it back on shelves.

What's more, tech hit Parliament as MPs debated Gary McKinnon's looming extradition and Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill.

A barrage of questions in parliament doesn't appear to have changed Home Secretary Alan Johnson's opinion on the extradition of admitted hacker Gary McKinnon.

Johnson refused last week to change his opinion on the case, saying a new medical report failed to show that the Asperger's sufferer's human rights would be breached if he were extradited to the US to face charges of hacking Pentagon and NASA computers.

McKinnon was given seven days for his lawyers to file a judicial review, and Johnson is currently considering a request for an extension. In the meantime, his MP David Burrows was allowed to raise an urgent question in parliament.

MPs argued that the extradition treaty was unbalanced, that McKinnon was a suicide threat, and that Johnson had more leeway to intervene. Others argued the hacker should be given a job or guaranteed support to return to the UK to serve his sentence.

The myriad of arguments failed to convince Johnson, however. He again stressed that the only way he could prevent McKinnon's extradition is if it was shown to breach his human rights - which he said hasn't happened.

Health concerns

One MP accused Johnson of showing "himself and his government to be spineless" by allowing the extradition of a "citizen who is suicidal and sectionable."

MP Damien Greene noted how "horribly ironic that it is illegal to send someone to a country to face an explicit death sentence," when many believe McKinnon will commit suicide if sent to the US to stand trial.

MP Chris Hune said the Home Secretary was a "brave man" to risk having the suicide of McKinnon on his hands.

Noting he'd been called brave and spineless in a matter of minutes, Johnson said: "I accept the vulnerability of Gary McKinnon, as I accept the vulnerability of many cases going through for extradition... It's a very heavy burden on any Home Secretary's shoulders. But nevertheless, my job is to uphold the law."

Extradition treaty

Other MPs argued that the extradition treaty between the US and the UK was unbalanced.

"How many cases have we failed to get extradition from the US? None. Zilch. Nil. Every single case we have made to the US using probable cause has been approved," Johnson said, nothing about 30 such cases have occurred, without complaint from the US, while the UK has held up seven cases going the other way.

Johnson stressed that the treaty itself is not at issue, as McKinnon has already admitted the bulk of the charges, accusing those making the argument of "faint anti-Americanism".

He added that if an American in the same situation broke into UK systems, "members in this house would be outraged if the US refused to extradite the person responsible."

MP Damien Greene questioned whether that was entirely true, given the charges accuse McKinnon of trying to "intimidate or coerce" the US military, when he himself says he was looking for evidence of aliens.

Indeed, following the debate, McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp posted on Twitter that her son admitted the hack, but not the extent of the damage caused.

MP Andrew Miller noted: "Had he not masterfully broken through their systems, their security systems would have been vulnerable today... I wouldn't want someone testing my burglar alarm, but in this case he's done a huge favour to the American state."

Sharp added: "US should drop this extradition now, as it's making them and [the] UK government look like very vindictive people."

No change

Johnson said McKinnon must face the charges. "This is not a matter of me finding Gary McKinnon innocent of guilty. These are very serious charges against Gary McKinnon," he said.

Johnson said he has read every word McKinnon and his representatives have filed, and after "careful contemplation", could come to no other decision. "We've now had three Home Secretaries, incidentally, making the same decision. I think any person would have come to the same decision, no matter how hard that decision would be."

"It's not a Home Secretary's job to be popular, to please whatever media campaign is on the go," he later added.

Gary McKinnon had some very bad news yesterday, as Home Secretary Alan Johnson ordered the extradition of the Asperger's sufferer to the US to face hacking charges.

McKinnon and his supporters have argued that he should stand trial in the UK, and his fragile mental state could put him in danger of committing suicide if he's held in a US prison.

His lawyers are filing an appeal, and many hope McKinnon is returned to the UK after the trial. Regardless how you feel about the case, it's impossible not to feel for his mother, who posted on Twitter: "Really, really worried about Gary."

Symbian software ruins Sony Ericsson's Christmas

Two handsets have now been pulled from shelves - virtual or otherwise - after issues with software led to a high number of returns.

Firs the Satio was pulled, over software problems. Then, the Anio was pulled. But don't worry Sony Ericsson, it's not like anyone buys phones in December anyway.

Wikipedia losing editors

A report out this week showed that Wikipedia lost 49,000 contributing editors in the first quarter of this year - after losing just 4,900 in the same period the year before.

While some suggested the site is in a death spiral, with volunteers calling the environment "hostile", the Wikimedia Foundation said the decline isn't all that dramatic, and has held steady for the past 18 months.

Jail-broken iPhones turn into zombies

Another worm hit iPhones this week, and it isn't a joke this time.

Security firm F-Secure also said it's impossible for third-party anti-virus to run on the iPhone, so it can't be counted on for protection.

Still, the only worms to hit the Apple icon so far have targetted jail-broken devices, so as long as you're on contract, you have no worries - yet.

The young gentleman who first drew our attention to the security holes in jailbroken iPhones with his Rick Astley prank won himself a development job this week, so at least someone's getting something positive out of all this.

The rest of the week...

American courts jailed the "godfather of spam", while Italian prosecutors seek prison sentences for Google executives.

Twitter said it would rather go public than sell out, while LinkedIn said it has long-term plans for an IPO.

And, the iPhone is set to go on sale at Tesco, taking the device about as mainstream as it gets, just in time for Christmas shopping.

Gary McKinnon is to be extradited to the US to face hacking chargers, after Home Secretary Alan Johnson refused to step in.

McKinnon has admitted hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers, but he and his supporters have argued he should not be extradited to the US because he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.

Johnson has long said there is nothing he can do to prevent the extradition, but halted it temporarily to consider a new medical report into McKinnon's mental health.

Today, the home secretary in a letter said: "His extradition to the United States must proceed forthwith."

Johnson was quoted by the Telegraph newspaper as saying he had "carefully considered" the case, but didn't see that a report regarding McKinnon's mental health was "materially different" from that which was presented to the High Court previously this year and "does not demonstrate that sending Mr McKinnon to the United States would breach his human rights."

"If Mr McKinnon's human rights would be breached, I must stop the extradition," Johnson said. "If they would not be breached, the extradition must go ahead."

Johnson said his government had "sought and recieved assurances" from American authorities that McKinnon's medical needs would be met and would not serve his sentence in a "supermax" prison - those designed for the worst criminals who pose a threat to national security, such as terrorists.

"Finally, should Mr McKinnon be extradited, charged and convicted in the US and seek repatriation to the UK to serve a custodial sentence, the Government will of course progress his application at the very earliest opportunity," Johnson said.

Johnson added: "I know there is a concern on all sides to see a conclusion to these proceedings. It is now open to Mr McKinnon's lawyer to consider their legal options. As a consequence I do not propose to comment any further."

The concern isn't just to see a conclusion to the proceedings, however. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said: "Gary is at risk of suicide, I'm extremely worried about him... This government is terrified of speaking up to America, and now they are allowing vulnerable people to be pursued for non-violent crime when they should be going after terrorists. Why are they doing this?"

Click here for our timeline of Gary McKinnon's case.

This week, the iPhone undid the shackles of exclusivity with O2, and was made available for the first time on Orange. Sure, the prices are pretty much exactly the same, but it's a step in the right direction to the glory that is consumer choice.

With that in mind, we asked consumers - as in, you people - whether you'd choose to buy an iPhone. Watch the video here.

Of course, after the terror of a Rick Astley-themed worm hitting iPhones, many people may have since changed their minds...

Bing gets ready

Bing had an exciting week, but every week must be exciting with a name like that. (Question: "So, where do you work?" Answer: "Bing!" That would never get old.)

Not only did it tie up with Wolfram Alpha to help us with our maths and calorie counts, it also tweaked its mapping function. Take that, Google.

The UK version also snuck out of beta, but remains without such shiny features as Wolfram and Twitter search. So while rival Google leaves things in beta for years and years despite them being fully functional, Microsoft pulls them out of beta with some features still missing.

McKinnon's woes

Gary McKinnon's legal battle continued its move into the political ring this week. First, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said there was nothing he could do to stop the extradition to the US of the Asperger's-suffering hacker.

Unless, of course, doing so would break EU human rights law.

Yesterday, MPs from the Home Affairs Select Committee told Johnson it was time to take action, and permanently halt extradition proceedings, but he's been told that repeatedly, so it's unlikely he's about to change his mind.

Big players

Also this week, Intel bought off AMD. The legal bickering between the two ended yesterday, with Intel giving its smaller chip rival $1.25 billion to stop picking fights.

The EU meanwhile rejected Oracle's acquisition of Sun, while Orange and T-Mobile signed their final merger agreement. HP also spent some cash this week, picking up 3com for $2.7 billion.

Other news

The ICO said that burglaries and thefts are a major cause of data breaches - it's not all getting drunk and leaving USBs on trains.

The London Stock Exchange suffered a server crash, Novell unveiled openSUSE 11.2 and security experts claimed that Windows 7 won't solve malware woes.

Silver surfers were either encouraged or disparaged with the release of a new six-button, easy-to-use PC just for them. And the government confirmed it still plans to track all our internet and mobile communications - but not until after the election.

The Home Affairs Committee has called for Home Secretary Alan Johnson to halt the extradition of admitted hacker Gary McKinnon.

McKinnon admits hacking into the Pentagon and NASA, but has argued his Asperger's Syndrome means he should be tried in the UK rather than extradited to the US.

After McKinnon was denied another legal appeal last month, Johnson put the extradition on hold, in order to further examine medical evidence suggesting the hacker is suicidal.

But earlier this week, the Home Secretary said there was little he could do to prevent McKinnon being sent to the US for trial, unless the medical reports show that it would be against the hacker's human rights.

Yesterday, the Home Affairs Select Committee said the extradition should not go through.

"Because of Mr McKinnon's precarious state of mental health, the Committee is of the view that he should not be extradited to the USA and that you should exercise your discretion in this case," the committee's chair Keith Vaz wrote in a letter to Johnson.

Vaz said the extradition treaty between the US and the UK was unbalanced.

"The committee remains concerned that there is a serious lack of equality in the way the Treaty's provisions apply to UK, as opposed to American, citizens," Vaz wrote.

The Home Office has frequently said that the treaty is not the issue, and stressed that it's down to Johnson to decide if shipping McKinnon to the US would break EU human rights laws.

"Unless the evidence shows that extradition would breach the European Convention on Human Rights it would be unlawful to refuse extradition," a Home Office spokesperson said.

Read on for the whole story of Gary McKinnon's legal battle.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has defended his role in the case of Gary McKinnon, stating that his hands are tied by the UK/US Extradition Treaty, which gives the US the right to demand the extradition of the hacker.

Speaking at a Home Affairs Committee meeting, Johnson revealed that he had no "discretion" when it came to opposing the extradition, which some claim is unfair.

This was because the Act doesn't require the US to have admissible evidence of the offence committed for McKinnon to be forcefully removed from the UK. This isn't true the other way round.

He said: "If anyone was being extradited from the UK, with their crime committed in the US, that's legal that's set out in the Act. I have to judge the conditions that apply."

However, Johnson said he "stopped the clock" on the appeal due to fresh medical evidence being given to him which the final' High Court judgement in July didn't hear.

"It says that the situation has deteriorated and Gary McKinnon's psychological state is much worse. It says that his propensity for suicide has become that much greater," the Home Secretary said.

"I felt given that this wasn't brought before the High Court, and it would be wrong not to see whether this breached Gary McKinnon's article three human rights."

Article three of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture as well as inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'.

McKinnon admits hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers, but claims he was not out to do any harm and was simply looking for evidence of aliens.

He has been now fighting for several years to avoid extradition, with his Asperger's being one of the factors in his defence.

Johnson was unsure about what would happen if the evidence did point to a breach in McKinnon's human rights.

"It's a very good question. I'm not looking at what happens next. I think it's then a matter for the prosecuting authorities to decide what happens," he said.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has explained why he "stopped the clock" on Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US on hacking charges, saying new medical evidence needed to be carefully reviewed.

It's been nearly two weeks since the government put a hold on McKinnon's extradition to the US, which had been set to happen as early as the end of this month if a new appeal to Europe courts didn't go through.

This is the first time Johnson has fully explained why, but the government did acknowledge at the time that the delay was to allow time for the Home Secretary to look over a new medical report into McKinnon's mental state. The admitted hacker was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome after he cracked into NASA and Pentagon computers in 2001 and 2002.

Johnson told Parliament: "We have stopped the clock ticking on the representation to the European court because new medical evidence has been provided."

"There are two issues upon which Gary McKinnon's legal advisors have argued: the first is that the director of public prosecutions should have tried him in this country... The high court in July dismissed that, and wouldn't allow it to go to judicial review," he added.

"I have to ensure that his Article 3 human rights are being respected. It's that new medical evidence that I will be looking at very carefully," Johnson explained.

McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said her son had become suicidal. "The evidence is very powerful. I'm really glad the Home Secretary has decided to look at it, because Gary's health has already deteriorated so much. After eight years of constant stress, he is suicidal," she told the Times newspaper.

While the news will be appreciated by McKinnon's many supporters, it will leave some wondering why Johnson hasn't taken action sooner. The Home Secretary has repeatedly said there's nothing he can do to halt the extradition, despite the fact that McKinnon's mental state and Asperger's Syndrome have long been an issue in the case.

Click here for a timeline of McKinnon's legal battle.

A parlimentary committee is to publicly question Home Secretary Alan Johnson about the extradition treaty with the US that could see hacker Gary McKinnon face an American court.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the Home Affairs select committee wants to understand how the treaty between the UK and the US is used, and whether or not Johnson should be given the power to ask for trials to be held in the UK - something McKinnon's supporters have been asking for.

McKinnon admits hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers, but has argued he did no harm. Since the incidents, the North Londoner has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, leading his mother and other supporters to say he would suffer too much in an American jail.

Telegraph sources said Johnson would be at the committee meeting to give evidence, as would members of McKinnon's family.

Committee chairman MP Keith Vaz said: "The case of Gary McKinnon highlights the difficulties in the current extradition relationship between the UK and the US. It is clear that the US got a better deal from the Extradition Treaty."

"The treaty needs to allow ministerial discretion in exceptional circumstances such as the case of Gary McKinnon," he told the paper.

McKinnon's extradition is currently on hold while the government examines new medical evidence in the case, after being denied a request to take his case to the Supreme Court.

Click here for a timeline of the Gary McKinnon saga.

The government has put a hold on Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US to face hacking charges in order to have more time to consider the mental health of the Asperger's sufferer.

McKinnon admits hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers, but claims he wasn't looking to do any harm. Over the past several years, he's fought to face his charges in the UK rather than the US, not least because he's since been found to suffer from Asperger's, a form of autism.

After being asked several times to keep McKinnon in the UK, and claiming there's nothing he can do, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has finally acquiesced, for a time at least.

McKinnon had been set for extradition by the end of this month after failing to convince the government he should be able to appeal to the new Supreme Court, but Johnson has put the 14-day clock on hold following a new psychiatric report, and asked the Home Office to look into the matter.

The Home Office told the BBC: "On 12 October his solicitors submitted further representations to the Home Secretary and we are considering what response to give to this latest material... In the meantime, we have confirmed to his solicitors that we do not consider the 14 days for a Strasbourg application as running."

McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp told the Daily Mail: "I am extremely pleased Alan Johnson is doing this. I am sure that when he sees such strong evidence he will realise he should intervene and stop the extradition."

"Even at this late stage I hope when confronted with such compelling-evidence he will show the compassion that the people of this country are longing to see. Gary is pleased and relieved. It is the best news he has received for a long time and it gives him some hope," she added.

Click here for our timeline of the Gary McKinnon case.

Gary McKinnon has been told he won't be allowed to appeal to the newly created Supreme Court to avoid extradition to the US to face charges of hacking into Pentagon and Nasa computers.

The admitted hacker suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, and has claimed he wasn't looking to cause trouble, just find evidence of aliens.

This time around, McKinnon was looking to overturn a previous decision by Home Secretary Alan Johnson that the government couldn't step in and prevent his extradition, possibly by trying him in the UK.

It's the latest blow in the four-year case, which has seen McKinnon try every legal angle to avoid extradition. McKinnon has won backing from a wide variety of supporters including MPs, the wives of Sting and the PM, the Daily Mail, and many in the IT sector.

"The IT community has been very supportive of the McKinnon campaign and today's news will shock many," said Mark Harris, global director of SophosLabs, in a statement.

"The consensus is that it is perhaps inappropriate to make an example of a UFO conspiracy theorist when serious crimes are still being carried out by financially-motivated hackers, stealing identities, sending spam and creating botnets," he added.

That view was echoed by IT PRO readers, many of whom think the hacker should not go to jail, but be given a job in security.

Click here for more on the McKinnon saga.

A cross-party group of MPs has today asked Home Secretary Alan Johnson to step in and block the extradition to the US of admitted hacker Gary McKinnon.

Johnson has previously said he has no legal grounds to block the extradition, which many say shouldn't happen because McKinnon has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome after hacking the Pentagon and NASA.

Labour MP Michael Meacher, former shadow home secretary David Davis and Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne joined forces despite their party differences to try to convince Johnson in a meeting earlier today.

In a blog post, Mecher wrote: "Gary McKinnon's medical condition is such that medical experts have concluded that there is a grave risk to his health, and even to his life, if he is extradited to the US. There is no reason why he cannot face charges in the UK for an act which took place in the UK."

Meacher said that two "top human rights lawyers" from a firm called Matrix Chambers were commissioned to give their opinion on the case by the Daily Mail - which has been running a campaign to "save" McKinnon since this summer.

The lawyers found "that the Home Secretary not only has the power, but also the duty, to intervene in any extradition case even after the court process has ended if there is a real risk of a human rights breach should extradition proceed," Meacher said.

"This is contrary to the advice being given to Alan Johnson by the Legal Department within the Home Office that there was nothing he could do to prevent the extradition once the High Court had ruled that it could go ahead," he added.

It's looking more likely that Gary McKinnon will be extradited to the US to face hacking charges, but he may be able to serve his sentence in the UK.

Following a court's decision last week to not prevent his extradition to the US on hacking charges, several high profile leaders have added their names to his list of supporters.

While Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it would be illegal for a government minister to prevent the extradition, a fellow Labour leader said he may serve his time back home.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman suggested McKinnon may be tried in the US, but brought back to the UK to serve his sentence.

"If he is found guilty, then obviously straight away we will seek for him to serve any prison sentence if he is sentenced to prison back in this country," she told the BBC.

Other politicians lined up to support the hacker. Former cabinet minister Peter Hain - also a Labour member - told the Daily Mail he had sympathy for McKinnon.

"After all he was sitting in his bedroom by his computer, as a kind of computer geek zapping the American defence system, and therefore he was committing an offence on British soil."

London Mayor Boris Johnson echoed IT PRO readers with his belief the admitted hacker should be offered a job, not a jail sentence.

"The Americans shouldn't be threatening him with jail. They should be offering him consultancy," he wrote in the Telegraph.

Click here for more on the jail sentences other hackers have had to serve.

The high profile case of UK hacker Gary McKinnon has brought the subject of hacking back into serious debate within the mainstream media.

Rumoured to face 70 years in prison if extradited to America, McKinnon just lost another appeal in front of the courts.

With the McKinnon case in mind, we look at the individual cases of ten additional hackers - their crimes, and most importantly, the severity of their sentencing.

Jonathan James

Jonathan James, aka C0mrade, was only 16 years old when he was caught and formally charged for snooping around inside the US's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) server.

James managed to install a backdoor into the server that allowed him access to sensitive emails, as well as employees' usernames and passwords. Additionally, James was accused of hacking into NASA and stealing $1.7 million worth of software.

James, because of his age, got off rather lightly - particularly, when you compare his case to McKinnon's - with six months in prison and a ban permitting him from using a personal computer.

Jon Paul Oson

Oson, a 38-year-old network engineer from San Diego, illegally hacked into his former employer's network in a malicious revenge stunt.

The Council of Community Health Clinics (CCC) network at the time provided services to 17 regional health clinics in San Diego and the imperial counties of California - including medical records and test results. Once inside, Oson erased important patient data and billing information, potentially placing thousands of peoples' lives in danger.

Oson was formally charged in 2008, receiving five years in prison and made to pay $144,358.83 to the CCC and $264,979.00 to the NCHS.

Maksym Yastremskiy (aka Maksik)

Maksik, according to the US, was part of the cyber crime gang that hacked into the Wi-Fi networks of several major US retail chains, compromising over 45 million credit and debit cards. The hackers successfully infiltrated the networks of OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble, Boston Market, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW, BJ's Wholesale Club, T.J. Maxx, and Marshall's.

Obviously, the US were keen to get Maksik extradited. However, it was the Turkish authorities that finally caught up with Maksik first - ironically, whilst he was holidaying there.

Following his arrest by Turkish authorities in July 2007, Maksik, was formally charged with hacking 12 Turkish banks and received 30 years in prison, as well as a hefty fine of $23,200. The US will have to wait at least 30 years before they can even think about beginning the extradition process.

Mitnick began his hacking career at the age of 12 using social engineering - the process of manipulating people or individuals into divulging private information.

By the early 1990s, Mitnick was one of the most wanted computer criminal in American history, hacking into systems at Nokia, Sun Microsystems, and Motorola.

The authorities eventually caught up with Mitnick in 1995, who had been on the run for two years at this point, following a previous conviction for hacking into Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) computer system using a phone number a friend had given him.

Mitnick received 46 months in prison, as well as an additional 22 months for evading his previous supervised release.

Matthew Weigman

Earlier this year, legally blind American hacker Matthew Weigman was sentenced to 11 years in prison after charges of phone hacking - or phone phreaking.

Weigman used his telephone hacking skills to hack systems at Sprint, eavesdrop on private calls, and even stage a hoax hostage situation in 2005 that directed police to the Colorado home of a man whose daughter refused to have phone sex with him.

Weigman, who was regarded as one of the best phone hackers in the world by his late teens was sentenced to 135 months in prison, with little hope of a reduced sentence, according to the US Attorney's Office.

Kevin Lee Poulsen

Known as 'Dark Dante' during his hacking days in the 1980s, Poulsen engaged in a number of hacks that ultimately earned him the notoriety of being America's best-known cyber-criminal - he was even featured on NBC's Unsolved Mysteries prior to his arrest.

Poulson was tried in June 1994, pleading guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, obstruction of justice, and money laundering, receiving 51 months in prison and a charge of $56,000 in restitution.

Vladimir Levin

Russian-born Levin concocted one of the most successful wire hacks in history extracting $10.7 million from Citibank in 1994.

Authorities eventually caught up with Levin at Stansted Airport while he attempted to board a flight to Moscow. Following his arrest, Levin was extradited to the US where he was sentenced to three years in jail, and ordered to pay restitution charges of $240,015.

Max Ray Butler was arrested in 2000 after refusing to cooperate with the FBI.

Previously, Butler was an informant for the Bureau, helping them track down other computer hackers.

Butler was charged with 15 counts of cyber crimes in 2001 including computer intrusion, possession of stolen passwords, and interception of communications, receiving 18 months in an American prison.

Butler was arrested again in 2007 after a raid on his apartment revealed 1.8 million stolen credit card accounts stored on his computer.

The case, which is set to go to court in October, could result in Butler receiving 40 years in prison and a possible fine of $1.5 million if found guilty.

Jeanson James Ancheta

Californian hacker Jeanson Ancheta, was the first cyber criminal to be convicted for the control of a large number of hijacked computers, known as botnets, which he used to access nearly 400,000 separate computers, as well as two military facilities.

Arrested in 2005, Ancheta was officially charged in January 2006 with conspiracy to violate CANSPAM Act, conspiracy to violate the computer fraud act, damaging military computers, and illegal computer access with intent to commit fraud.

He received 57 months in prison, and was ordered to pay $60,000 in cash, as well as an additional $15,000 to the federal government for damages he caused to its computers.

Simon Vallor

Unemployed warehouseman Simon Vallor was convicted and jailed for two years in January 2003 by Southwark crown court.

Vallor from North Wales created three viruses - Gokar, Redesi-B and Admirer - that hit thousands of computers globally.

According to reports, if the FBI and Scotland Yard had not caught up with the Welsh hacker, his viruses could have caused global disruption to tens of thousands of computers, businesses, organisations and people.

Click here for to read more on the most infamous hackers of all time.

This week in the world of IT, we saw developments in the McKinnon case, scrutiny for the government's E-Crime Unit - and more.

22 - The total number of people arrested through investigations initiated by the government's Serious Organised Crime Agency's (SOCA) E-Crime Unit - although, they do a lot more than just make arrests, according to the Home Secretary.

30 - The number of security patches released by Oracle this week as part of its quarterly update.

70 - The potential number of years UK hacker Gary McKinnon is rumoured to face in prison if extradited to the US.

100 - Alcatel-Lucent announced this week that it will be releasing new cards next year that will increase the speed of its 10Gb routers and switches to a whooping 100Gb.

99 million - The value of the contract acquired this week by BT to provide support to military communications.

243 million - Sony Ericsson posted losses of 243 million this week, a 43 per cent drop in handset shipments.

It's been many years since Gary McKinnon hacked into US government computers, yet his case is still ongoing.

This week in the House of Commons, the Conservative Party raised the issue of his looming extradition to the US to face trial, but the government decided not to get involved.

We asked our readers via our newsletter and Twitter feed what they think of the case - should he be jailed in the US?

Jail him

Paul had little pity. He said: "I've got the worst possible opinion of hackers. They're nothing more that vandals and thieves and should be treated as such."

David shared his opinion, calling for McKinnon to be locked away. "Anyone who hacks computers needs locking away for a very long time - send him to the US now and stop wasting our money on overpaid lawyers defending him," he said.

Pointing the finger

Derek thought the blame should lie elsewhere. "I think it is those responsible for leaving the systems open to attack that should be in court," he said.

While some may say that's blaming the victim, Andie agreed, saying: "If they cannot protect that information and the system can be hacked then those in the organisation have failed and by default are as guilty of the crime."

Stu piped up to say the US should be sacking those in charge of the systems. "I am a network engineer and if I had left the potential for a nobody to dial up and 'hack' in to my employer's network, my feet would not touch the floor and my only pause before the door would be to pick up my P45," he said.

Asperger's syndrome

McKinnon's Asperger's syndrome has been cited as one reason he shouldn't be sent to the US.

Julian said the disease is a valid explanation. He said: "I have experience of students with varying degrees of Asperger's Syndrome and it is not unreasonable to argue that Gary didn't realise what he was doing was wrong and perhaps the case should be dismissed on medical grounds."

Alex disagreed, saying: "Half of the people in IT seem to have this syndrome and they manage to refrain from hacking into Pentagon computers."

John believes that without the Asperger's connection, the "publicity seeking brigade" wouldn't be involved. "Predictable partners in crime such as pop star wives, publicity obsessed pretty boy politicians, and others who surely have better things to do," he said. He added: "For what it's worth, anybody out there prepared to help my Asperger's affected nephew secure a decent job? Thought not."

Give the man a job

McKinnon might be in more luck than John's nephew. By far the overwhelming opinion was that McKinnon shouldn't be locked up he should be employed.

"The Pentagon should offer McKinnon a very large salary and use him to improve their security methods. If someone can hack into top level Pentagon files from the comfort of their own bedroom, that person clearly knows more about security than the Pentagon does," suggested Douglas.

Gary added: "A classic case of poacher turned gamekeeper, just like Frank Abagnale Jr!"

But why let him go to the US? "We lose talented people from this country wholesale to the US and we really don't want to lose them to a US prison, do we?" Mike asked.

Martin thinks the Pentagon should have kept quiet, fixed their systems, and then asked McKinnon to have another go. He said: "After all they are, in effect, getting a free test of their security systems, which appear to have failed."

We'll let the final word go to Michael, who has actually met McKinnon: "I feel he is most probably being made an example of for ulterior motives... He seems to have very little deep expertise, but was an opportunist who found some glaring insecurities in US government systems by pure chance," he said.

"To cover up these embarrassing deficiencies, McKinnon has been hyped as a dangerous criminal and technical expert, and is essentially being railroaded. I do not condone what he did, but it has been blown out of all proportion for political reasons."

Is the end finally in sight for confessed hacker Gary McKinnon's long fight to avoid extradition to the US?

This week, his case suffered another blow as a Conservative call for a government review on his case was defeated in the House of Commons.

It has been a long road for the Asperger's afflicted hacker, who has been fighting attempts to extradite him to the US over hacking into NASA and Pentagon systems.

Click here for our timeline of the case, and more on the latest events and Tory involvement.

Microsoft announcements

It was an eventful week if you were a fan of all things Microsoft. The biggest announcement coming from the Worldwide Partner Conference was the technical preview of Office 2010, and we have a a quick off the mark First Look review.

The hype for Windows 7 is only getting bigger as we get closer to its October release date, as we reveal that demand had already crashed the Microsoft store.

After a report suggesting it could save the economy, maybe the rush is no surprise. Pre-orders aside, business will get it a month early, but that's if they even [a href="https://www.itpro.com/612643/businesses-to-skip-windows-7-to-save-money" target="_blank"]bother to buy it?[/a]

If that wasn't enough it was announced that Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing solution, would be available by the end of the year. We have a Need to Know for that, as well as Silverlight 3 which was released last week. The company also said it will also [a href="https://www.itpro.com/612664/microsoft-dynamics-to-integrate-twitter" target="_blank"]integrate Twitter[/a] into its CRM solution.

But it wasn't all good news this week for Microsoft. Although the company did release its Patch Tuesday fixes, Microsoft Office users were left open to an attack a day before as a flaw was detected in its Web Components - which hackers have already targeted.

The Conservative Party's call for the Government to review hacker Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US has been defeated in the House of Commons.

During an opposition day debate, the Conservatives called for a review of McKinnon's case and the unbalanced extradition treaty between the UK and the US.

As it stands, the US doesn't have to provide any evidence to back an extradition request, whereas the UK does if it wants to extradite from the US.

The calls did not sway Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who told Parliament that he could not intervene: "The Home Secretary is legally obliged to order extradition except where there is a possibility that the person could be sentenced to death, where there are inadequate arrangements, or if the person to be extradited has previously been extradited from another country."

He further ruled out any review of the extradition treaty by this Government, after the Conservative motion to do just that was defeated.

McKinnon is charged with hacking US computer networks 97 times. He faces 70 years in jail if extradited, though his case is under judicial review by the Royal Courts of Justice.

Click here for a timeline of the Gary McKinnon case.

Gary McKinnon awaits the result of a High Court judicial review challenging his extradition to the US.

According to Reuters, lawyers for McKinnon have argued that he is too ill to stand trial because of his Asperger's Syndrome, with his supporters arguing that he will be at risk of suicide or psychosis if extradited to the US.

It has been a long road to this point, with the self-confessed hacker battling through legal channels such as the House of Lords, the Law Lords, the Crown Prosecution Service and the European Court of Human Rights so far with little success.

McKinnon has been accused of illegally accessing data on 97 military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002. He has admitted accessing the computers - claiming he was searching for aliens - but denies causing the thousands of pounds worth of damage he has been accused of.

Click here for a timeline of McKinnon's battle through the courts.

Two hours of an email service going offline usually wouldn't cause that much of a stir, but this is Gmail we're talking about.

Thanks to an outage from an overloaded data centre, it's likely that millions of people around the world wouldn't have had access to Google's usually reliable webmail service.

Although Gmail is beta', millions of people have been using what they thought was a stable service for years.

Considering companies such as the Guardian News and Media Group have chosen Google Apps for their employees, it is a big concern that webmail can simply "fail" like this for many businesses, two hours without email could have very costly consequences.

Like buses, bad news seems to all come at once. Phishing attacks were soon targeted at Gmail using the Google Talk IM system as well as traditional phishing attacks.

As long as there are people willing to click on unknown links and use the same password for all their online services, criminals will continue to phish.

The Justice Secretary Jack Straw should be well aware of this. Thanks to his Hotmail account being broken into, Nigerian scammers sent phishing emails from his account to contacts that were reported to include government chiefs and council bosses.

Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro blasted the government politician for using a Hotmail account. As a high-ranking politician and one of the minds behind the Police Central e-crime Unit, he should know that getting an encrypted email account really should be a high priority for his correspondents join the debate on Slashdot.

The case of Gary McKinnon is being watched very closely by some in the IT community, and this week he suffered a very big blow as the CPS threw out his case to be tried in the US.

According to the judgement, the crimes in the US he was accused of would far outweigh the computer misuse charges he would face here.

One important aspect of the case though, is that the CPS did not take into account his Asperger's Syndrome when making the judgement, and this is one of the big arguments his supporters have when fighting against a US trial.

With a Judicial Review, he has one more chance. Otherwise extradition to the US will be a certainty.

Admitted hacker Gary McKinnon finally achieved a victory in his long fight against extradition to the US, as he was granted a judicial review to challenge his case in the High Court.

The new ruling means that the computer hacker can stay in the UK while the challenge is made. His lawyers and supporters have argued that McKinnon's Asperger's Syndrome puts him at risk of suicide or psychosis if he is extradited to the US.

McKinnon has been accused of hacking military computers in 2001. He admitted the charge of hacking, but he denied that he did it maliciously or caused the amount of damage the US authorities are claiming.

As well as the High Court challenge, McKinnon's lawyers also sent a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC asking if he can be tried under UK law for his crime. A reply will be sent in four weeks.

According to the BBC, McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said: "We are overjoyed that the British Courts have shown sense and compassion by allowing our son Gary, a young man with Asperger's syndrome, this judicial review.

"We have always been outraged by the Home Office's decision to have him extradited to stand trial in a foreign land where he would face an out-of-proportion sentence to what is essentially a crime of eccentricity."

UPDATED: Admitted hacker Gary McKinnon is on the point of extradition after cracking into NASA and Pentagon systems in 2001 and 2002.

McKinnon has said the hacks were harmless and that he was just looking for proof of the existence of aliens. Since the hacks, he's also been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

He has been trying to avoid extradition to the US, where he could face a long sentence in an American jail. Home Secretary Alan Johnson has refused to step in.

Here's our timeline of how it's all gone down.

February 2007: Alleged NASA hacker begins extradition fight

Lawyers for McKinnon begin their fight to stop his extradition to the US. McKinnon admits accessing the computers, but he claimed that he was only looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

October 2007: McKinnon given leave to appeal hacking extradition

After making a failed case to the High Court, the House of Lords give McKinnon another chance to appeal his extradition to the US, on the grounds that US prosecuting authorities were coercive and threatening during plea bargaining discussions.

June 2008: British hacker takes appeal to Law Lords

McKinnon continues his fight against extradition and begins his case at the House of Lords. McKinnon's lawyers claim that an extradition could see him sentenced for anything up to 45 years.

July 2008: Hacker McKinnon loses final appeal

The hacker loses his appeal to the Law Lords. The only option now is the European courts.

August 2008: Hacker McKinnon gets extradition delay

The European Court of Human Rights grants McKinnon a two-week delay on his extradition, giving it a chance to look at his case.

August 2008: Hacker faces justice after lost Euro appeal

The European courts reject the appeal. Plans are made to appeal to the Home Secretary, which are also rejected.

12 January 2009: McKinnon could be tried for hacker crimes in Britain

McKinnon's lawyers say he will plead guilty to a UK offence under the Misuse of Computers Act. The request has already been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

15 January 2009: Gary McKinnon and supporters make last-ditch appeal

McKinnon and supporters make a public appeal before the High Court on whether they will accept his bid to be tried in the UK.

23 January 2009: Hacker McKinnon can challenge US extradition

McKinnon achieves a victory, as he is granted a judicial review to challenge his case in the High Court.

24 February 2009: Gary McKinnon supported by anti-terror law watchdog

Independent reviewer of ant-terror laws Lord Carlile gives his backing for McKinnon to have a UK trial.

26 February 2009: CPS will not prosecute McKinnon in UK

The Crown Prosecution Service decides not to prosecute McKinnon for computer misuse, claiming the charges don't match what he has been accused of in the US.

17 March 2009: McKinnon just looking for 'little green men'

Terry Waite is the latest high-profile supporter of McKinnon, saying that he was "harmless" and "common sense" was needed.

10 June 2009: Will High Court stop McKinnon's US extradition?

A round-up of McKinnon's journey to his High Court judicial review which could decide his fate.

16 July 2009: Conservatives lose Gary McKinnon extradition battle

The government rejects a Tory call to step in and prevent McKinnon being extradited.

17 July 2009: Your Views: Gary McKinnon

IT PRO readers reveal what they think about Gary McKinnon's case - most want him to be given a job, not a jail sentence.

31 July 2009: McKinnon loses High Court appeal

McKinnon's mother is "heartbroken" after a final appeal to the High Court proves fruitless.

3 August 2009: Gary McKinnon may serve hacking time in UK

Labour leaders including Harriet Harman suggest that although McKinnon may have to go the US to face trial, he could serve his sentence in the UK.

9 September 2009: More MPs back McKinnon in extradition battle

A group of MPs from all the big parties join forces to pressure Home Secretary Alan Johnson to prevent McKinnon's extradition, largely on the grounds of his health.

9 October 2009: McKinnon loses latest battle against extradition to US

McKinnon is told he won't be able to take his fight to the new Supreme Court, and is given two weeks to come up with a new way to avoid extradition.

18 October 2009: Gary McKinnon's extradition put on hold

McKinnon finally gets some help from the Home Office, as Alan Johnson puts the extradition clock on hold to give the government time to consider a new report into the hacker's mental health.

13 November 2009: Home Affairs Committee calls for Johnson to halt the extradition of McKinnon due to his 'precarious' mental health.

26 November 2009: Johnson refuses to step in, saying that there was nothing he could do to prevent the extradition, and should proceed forthwith.

1 December 2009: A barrage of questions fails to convince Johnson that he should change his decision, though McKinnon does buy a bit of time.

The home secretary has been given a petition to stop the extradition of accused computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

Senior politicians want the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to acquire a guarantee by the US government that McKinnon will be allowed to serve any sentence in Britain.

The request was raised by shadow justice minister David Burrowes in the Commons and now has cross-party support. Former home secretary, David Blunkett, is supporting the request.

Burrowes, McKinnon's MP, said that there was an "accepted practice" the US followed for the Dutch and Israeli governments which required the US to repatriate anyone convicted of a crime that has special medical or mental health needs to their home country to serve their sentence. McKinnon has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

McKinnon was accused by the US of "the biggest military hack of all time" in 2007, when he was accused of accessing Pentagon and NASA computers looking for evidence of UFOs. He has been trying to fight extradition to the US, but has already been denied by the High Court, Law Lords and European Court of Human Rights.

Once again, hacker Gary McKinnon prepares a last-ditch bid to stop his extradition to the US for hacking US military computers. After McKinnon's solicitor unsuccessfully made a case to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, his solicitors are given 14 more days to find more judicial solutions.

McKinnon said the hacks were harmless and due to his Aspergers syndrome, as well as his curiosity about aliens. If he wins an appeal he can expect a far more lenient sentence tried in the UK, of possibly three to four years, rather than decades in a US jail.

With McKinnon fast running out of options, IT PRO looks at the struggles he's had to stay within the UK legal system.

February 2007: Alleged NASA hacker begins extradition fight

Lawyers for McKinnon who was alleged to have hacked into NASA and Pentagon computers begin their fight to stop his extradition to the US. McKinnon admits accessing the computers, but he claimed that he was only looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

October 2007: McKinnon give leave to appeal hacking extradition

After making a failed case to the High Court, the House of Lords give McKinnon another chance to appeal his extradition to the US. It was done on the grounds that US prosecuting authorities were coercive and threatening during plea bargaining discussions.

June 2008: British hacker takes appeal to Law Lords

McKinnon continues his fight against extradition and begins his case at the House of Lords. McKinnon's lawyers claim that an extradition could see him sentenced for anything up to 45 years.

July 2008: Hacker McKinnon loses final appeal

The hacker loses his appeal to the Law Lords. The only option now is the European courts.

August 2008: Hacker McKinnon gets extradition delay

The European Court of Human Rights grants McKinnon a two-week delay on his extradition, giving it a chance to look at his case.

August 2008: Hacker faces justice after lost Euro appeal

The European courts reject the appeal his last chance through the court system. Plans are made to appeal to the Home Secretary, which are also rejected.

The European Court of Human Rights has granted hacker Gary McKinnon a two-week delay on his extradition to the US.

The court says the delay will give it time "for his application to be heard before the full chamber," meaning US authorities will be required to wait until 28 August before extraditing him.

The US accused McKinnon of the "biggest military hack of all time" after he penetrated the defences of 97 Pentagon and NASA computer systems. During the hacks, prosecutors claim he damaged systems and stole sensitive files.

However, while McKinnon does not deny he hacked the systems, he maintains he was simply looking for proof of alien existence, and caused no real harm.

Extradition to the US could see McKinnon face up to 70 years in prison, according to his lawyers. They are fighting the sentence, claiming that it would be a breach of his human rights. McKinnon argues he will not receive a fair trial in the US, after a senator claimed he would "fry".

McKinnon has already lost an appeal before the House of Lords.

Hacker McKinnon loses final appeal

Gary McKinnon, the British so-called most dangerous hacker in the world', lost his fight to avoid extradition to the US. He could face a life sentence in an American court if found guilty of crimes which include breaking into Ministry of Defence and NASA computers. He is a minor celebrity in the hacking world thanks to speeches and appearances at various events, and even made the IT PRO list of top ten Black Hat Hackers.

Ex-Google engineers aim to topple Google with Cuil

Well if you are going to set a target, you might as well set them high. A group of engineers have started the fearsome task of bringing the fight to Google with Cuil, a new search service. The makers have been involved with Google or around the search engine business so the technology may not be the problem it's the fact that any new contender will have to completely change the search habits of the majority of internet users who routinely Google' as a matter of course.

Nokia's N96 to arrive in October

The Finnish mobile phone giant announces that 1 October is the date when it will release its own contender in the hotly contested business smartphone wars the Nokia N96. It is part of the new group of E-Series' enterprise handsets which include the previously released E71. Pricing details are not confirmed but the device is anticipated to retail at around at 430. It will feature a five megapixel camera with an enlarged 2.7" QVGA screen, built-in GPS and 16GB memory.

Home Office announces interactive crime maps for every neighbourhood

The Government uses web 2.0 technology to fight crime as it reveals that interactive maps showing how much crime goes on around us could be with us by the end of the year. It will allow anybody with internet access to see when and where crime takes place street by street for some offences. Images of how the maps are likely to look are available here.

Malware on legitimate websites up 50 per cent

On of the biggest and most concerning trends in security during the first half of 2008 is that of malware infecting websites that we know and trust. One of the most common ways of doing this is with SQL injections, with some very serious incidents occurring during the last year. It seems that attackers are getting away from trying to find zero-day' vulnerabilities in web software or transferring malware through attachments, as the defensive barriers are now usually very strong. Instead they are targeting weaknesses in the coding of many legitimate websites.

You may have heard about this one: Apple released a new handset this month. Not surprisingly, Apple hasn't made a misstep on the iPhone, and the device garnered a solid review from IT PRO. But some analysts have warned that it's not yet ready for the business world, despite several new features clearly targeting that market.

If you've got one of the new 3G models, check out our top tips for actually using the thing.

Google also had reasons to smile in July. While the web firm continues to succeed away from search big names like the publisher of The Daily Telegraph are switching to its hosted apps it's been challenged by a new search tool in wanna-be usurpers Cuil.

The team behind that new-fangled search engine includes some ex-Googlers, but their claim to have indexed 120 billion pages just looked sad after their giant competitor conveniently released stats showing they'd looked at a trillion pages. The web might be big, but it doesn't seem to have much room for new search engines

With everything else going on in the world of web, Yahoo is still muddling through. It's highly anticipated board meeting is on 1 August, but it's already successfully negotiated a peace deal with rogue shareholder Carl Ichan. Whether it can make other shareholders as happy remains to be seen.

VMware had a bit of shakeup. Not only did it replace Diane Green, but it announced it would be giving away its hypervisor for free, likely an attempt to hold onto its market share in the face of growing competition from the likes of Microsoft and Parallels.

Gary McKinnon won't look back fondly on July. The UK's highest court recently ruled against his extradition appeal, and it looks increasingly likely that he's headed to the US sometime soon, to face hacking charges and possible life imprisonment.

And we'll end this month's review on a slightly depressing note Despite the clear importance of IT in the UK economy, two computing museums are facing trouble. The Museum of Computing lost its home and was forced to pack its exhibits up in storage, while scientists have issued a rallying call for Bletchley Park, which needs cash for repairs.

Gary McKinnon, the British computer hacker caught accessing US government computers has today failed in his final appeal against extradition to the US.

Glasgow-born McKinnon, who now lives in London, could face a life sentence once he is tried in a US court having admitted that he hacked into computer systems belonging to the US Department of Defence (DoD) and NASA, allegedly in search of information about UFOs.

He lost his initial case at the High Court in 2006 before being given leave to appeal to the House of Lords.

The judgement of the Law Lords, the highest court in the land, was handed down this morning, and he now faces imminent extradition.

US prosecutors claim he defaced and altered documents on computer systems at a naval air station shortly after the 11 September terrorist attacks, and that his activities rendered the systems inoperable, creating a military security risk.

McKinnon has admitted that he accessed computers in the US without permission, but denies sabotage, instead insisting that he was simply a misguided computer geek in search of information about UFO incidents.

He has also appeared and spoken at several events about his experience and exploits as a hacker.

It is unclear at this stage whether he will be able to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for a further appeal.

The British hacker accused of cracking Pentagon security will take his fight against extradition to the Law Lords today.

Gary McKinnon stands accused of penetrating the defences of 97 US military and NASA systems, leaving messages to be found by investigators.

McKinnon claimed the attacks were simply acts of curiosity, however the US alleges he not only damaged equipment, but stole sensitive files which could be useful to the enemies of the US.

McKinnon's lawyers claim an extradition could see their client jailed for anything up to 45 years, without any possibility of serving part of his sentence in the UK.

They are arguing that extradition be denied by the Law Lords on the grounds that their client has been subjected to "improper threats", notably an interview at the US embassy, in which he was reportedly told that if he went to the US and pleaded guilty he would be granted a minimum sentence and repatriated, but otherwise could expect to serve a full sentence in the US.

They also allege McKinnon was threatened by a New Jersey prosecutors who claimed he "would fry".

McKinnon appealed the extradition in the High Court in 2007, however, the presiding judges said they could find no grounds for appeal.