Daily Mail picks fight with government for McKinnon

The Daily Mail has stated its support for NASA hacker Gary McKinnon, vowing to fight his extradition.

The tabloid newspaper described McKinnon as "naive", and criticised the government for agreeing to US demands for him to be extradited to face trial there.

McKinnon successfully hacked into US military and NASA networks in 2001 and 2002. The US claims he made $700,000 worth of damage, but McKinnon says it was a harmless attempt to find out information on UFOs. He will appeal again on 14 July.

The Daily Mail last Friday placed a petition on its website, demanding that home secretary Alan Johnson blocks attempts to extradite McKinnon, fearing he could face up to 60 years in jail on charges of terrorism.

"He wasn't tactful or clever - but surely there are bigger threats to the US than Gary?" noted the Mail in an article today.

The Director of Public Prosecutions "has repeatedly refused to bring charges in the UK, apparently to appease a US administration which was aggressively demanding extradition," it said.