Gary McKinnon wins short stay from extradition

Gary McKinnon, who may be a somewhat deranged alien hunter or "the world's most dangerous hacker," as U.S. authorities style him (according to the Guardian) won a temporary stay of his extradition to the U.S.

Last month, the British House of Lords court denied his appeal to block extradition but the European Court of Human Rights grantd a stay until August 28.

The court granted McKinnon "interim relief for his application to be heard before the full chamber," McKinnon's lawyers reported. He will argue that extradition to the U.S. would endanger his humand rights and that he might even be given enemy combatant status.

McKinnon argues that he cannot be granted a fair trial in the US, after American officials involved in the case allegedly told him they wanted to see him "fry".

McKinnon has consistently argued that he was just a "bumbling computer nerd" who caused no damage and was merely searching for evidence to prove his theories that the CIA had covered up the existence of aliens. He has never denied that he infiltrated the military security systems, but has always maintained that he was motivated by curiosity and only managed to get into the networks because of lax security.

Computerworld notes that McKinnon's incompetent-nerd argument doesn't completely hold water, as indicated by this 2002 note left on one hacked PC:

"U.S. foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these days. It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year. I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels."