33 year old ex-hacker, Lauri Love, has today one a landmark high court appeal against extradition to the US for hacking official US government agency websites. Love, who was facing solitary confinement and up to 99 years in jail, was arrested after hacking a number of government websites, including the FBI, Federal Reserve and NASA, back in 2013. This led to 3 federal indictments being returned by Grand Juries in 3 separate Districts where the agencies were based. Below are the case facts from a recent court document.
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The main argument for his case against extradition was the effect of being tried and sentenced in the US would have on his physical and mental heath. In a statement to the press outside the courts today Love explained that he's "hoping that this outcome can contribute to the discussion we are having as a society about how to accommodate people that have neuro-diversity, whose brains are made up in a slightly different way." Below is a brief timeline of events.
28 October 2013: Lauri Love is arrested in Suffolk under the Computer Misuse Act and accused of breaching the security of Nasa and FBI, among other US government agencies. He is released on bail.
27 February 2014: Mr Love is accused of a new charge of hacking into US Federal Reserve computer servers and stealing the personal information of users.
20 February 2015: Police in the UK say they will not return Mr Love's computer because they cannot decrypt its files.
16 July 2015: Mr Love is re-arrested by the Met Police executing an extradition warrant on behalf of the US.
20 August 2015: Mr Love tells the BBC he fears he will not get a fair trial in the US.
10 May 2016: A bid by the National Crime Agency to force Mr Love to hand over encrypted computer passwords is thrown out by a district judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
6 September 2016: Mr Love tells the BBC he fears dying in jail if he is extradited.
16 September 2016: A judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court rules Mr Love should be extradited to the US.
24 October 2016: MPs sign a letter asking President Obama to block Mr Love's extradition.
14 November 2016: Home Secretary Amber Rudd signs the extradition order.
29 November 2017: The Court of Appeal begins hearing Mr Love's appeal against extradition.
This is far from over. In fact it's really only the beginning of the case. Now after more than 4 years of appeals Love can finally be tried in a UK. The lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, announced in his decision that "we emphasise however that it would not be oppressive to prosecute Mr Love in England for the offences alleged against him. Far from it. Much of Mr Love’s argument was based on the contention that this is indeed where he should be prosecuted."
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None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for the support from Wikileaks and the Courage Foundation. Not only is this a small victory for Lauri Love, but it's also a small victory for common sense and basic human dignity. Stay strong and keep fighting, Lauri.
