Alleged Brit hacker awaits extradition verdict

Alleged hacker Gary McKinnon appeared in front of the beak at Bow Street Magistrates Court yesterday morning hoping to avoid being sent to Guantanamo Bay.

The forty year-old is accused of hacking into American military computers from his home in London using his Windows-powered PC. The US government claims he caused £370,000-worth of damage to 97 computers in a year-long hacking spree.

McKinnon claimed he was only trying to get at whatever information the US defence establishment has about UFOs. The US military claims he's a terrorist.

The US Embassy in London sent the court a little note yesterday promising that McKinnon wouldn't be tried by Military tribunal and won't therefore end up hooded and battered in the infamous no-man's land in Cuba. The note was unsigned and, according to McKinnon "not worth the paper it's written on."