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18 Info. & Comm. Tech. L. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/infctel18 and id is 1 raw text is: Information & Communications Technology Law Routledge Vol. 18, No. 1, March 2009, 1-12 R Taylor&Francis Group Hackers beware: the cautionary story of Gary McKinnon Paul Arnella* and Alan Reidb aDepartment of Law, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK,. bSchool of Management and Law, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK The law of extradition was changed following the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Subsequent practice has seen the range of extraditable offences expand to include acts not traditionally regarded as terrorist crimes. The case of Gary McKinnon provides one such example. This article describes and analyses the facts and law surrounding the extradition of McKinnon, and concludes that those involved in cyberspace in the United Kingdom should be very conscious of the long arm of United States criminal law. Keywords: extradition; jurisdiction; United States; computer misuse Introduction Gary McKinnon stands to be imminently extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States. He has been charged there with crimes relating to his gaining access to NASA and Pentagon computer systems. McKinnon faces the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence, estimated to be between 8-102 and 703 years in an American high security prison. To add to the severity of this possible fate, it has been alleged that he has been threatened with rape in jail in the United States if imprisoned there.4 McKinnon faces this fate in spite of not setting foot in the United States in pursuance of his alleged crimes. All his acts were committed from the relative comfort of his then girlfriend's flat in Wood Green, North London. The only direct link between his acts and the United States are bytes of data electronically transferred over the Internet from London. As a result of his actions he is sought by the American authorities. In response, he has fought a long legal battle against extradition, starting in 2004. The judicial opposition began in Bow Street Magistrates' Court. After losing his arguments there, his case was passed to the Secretary of State, who then ordered his extradition. McKinnon then lost appeals in the High Court5 and the House of Lords,6 and his recent petition to the European Court of Human Rights seeking an injunction against extradition has also been refused.7 This article first describes the facts and applicable criminal and extradition law in McKinnon's case. It then examines his judicial battle against extradition. Analysis of salient facts and criticisms of the case then follow. It concludes by suggesting that, as the law stands, the long arm of *Corresponding author. Email: p.arnell@rgu.ac.uk ISSN 1360-0834 print/ISSN 1469-8404 online @ 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13600830902727822 http://www.informaworld.com

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