‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition

Level 3 Advanced

1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

hacker extradition naive bail disproportionate

nerd lenient appellant contention intolerable

1. If something is ___________________, it is much bigger (or smaller) than it should be.

2. If something is ___________________, it is impossible to bear or deal with.
3. If a law is ___________________, it punishes someone less severely than it could.
4. A ___________________ person is one who lacks experience of life and tends to believe things too easily.
5. An ___________________ is someone who appeals against the decision of a court of law.
6. ___________________ is money that is given to a court as a guarantee when someone is allowed to stay out
of prison until their trial.
7. ___________________ is the process of sending a criminal back to the country where a crime was committed
for a trial.
8. A ___________________ is an opinion or statement that something is true.
9. A ___________________ is someone who uses a computer to connect to other people’s computers illegally.
10. A ____________ is a boring person who is excessively interested in technical subjects, especially computers.

2 What do you know?

Decide whether these sentences are True (T) or False (F). Then check your answers in the text.

1. The Pentagon is the home of the US government’s department of defence.

2. The European court of human rights is in Brussels.

3. The attacks on the Word Trade Centre and the Pentagon took place in 2002.

4. The UK has much tougher computer crime laws than the USA.

5. One UK pound is worth approximately two US dollars.

6. Terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay are known as ‘enemy combatants’.

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NEWS LESSONS / ‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition / Advanced

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‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition
Level 3 Advanced
‘Bumbling nerd’ who broke into
Pentagon computers loses battle
against extradition
• British hacker could face 70-year jail term in US
• Hope that European court will overturn Lords ruling
Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent
July 31, 2008
1 A British hacker who broke into the Pentagon’s
computer systems said he was disappointed
and angry after the House of Lords yesterday
dismissed his appeal against extradition to the
US. Gary McKinnon – called “the world’s most
dangerous hacker” by the American authorities
– could face trial in the US for his actions,
but vowed to continue fighting his case in the
European courts.
2 “I’m very disappointed and very angry, but not
too surprised,” he told the Guardian. “It might be
naive of me but, perversely, I think I might have
more chance in Europe than I do in my own
country.” McKinnon said the Home Office had
delayed extraditing him by two weeks to allow
him time to lodge a higher appeal. After that, the
case could take two years to reach the courts.
“Right now I’d be quite glad of a two-year delay,”
he said. “It’s better than being handed over to US
marshals and being put on a plane straight away.”
He said the case had proved devastating in the
six years since he was arrested. With his bail
conditions barring him from using the Internet,
his previous work in IT is near-impossible, while
potential employers are scared off. “I’ve lost two
jobs because of this – my bosses just didn’t want
to be associated with the publicity,” he said.
3 The 42-year-old hacked into 97 computers
belonging to the US military shortly after the
attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon
in 2001, using the codename ‘Solo’. American
officials claim he infiltrated systems belonging to
the department of defence, the US armed forces
and even Nasa – causing $700,000 (£354,000)
damage and threatening national security.
4 If extradited, McKinnon faces up to 70 years
in prison and his lawyers have argued that he
could even be given ‘enemy combatant’ status,
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008
NEWS LESSONS / ‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition / Advanced
the same category applied to terrorist suspects
interned at Guantánamo Bay. McKinnon’s lawyer,
Karen Todner, said her client had now exhausted
his options in the UK and would be taking his
case to the European court of human rights in
Strasbourg. “Gary McKinnon is neither a terrorist
nor a terrorist sympathizer,” she said. “His case
could have been properly dealt with by our own
prosecuting authorities. Instead, we believe that
the British government declined to prosecute
him to enable the US government to make an
example of him. American officials involved in
this case have stated that they want to see him
‘fry’. The consequences he faces if extradited
are both disproportionate and intolerable and we
will be making an immediate application to the
European court to prevent his removal.”
5 McKinnon, an unemployed IT worker from
north London, has consistently argued that he
was merely a ‘bumbling computer nerd’ who
caused no damage but was merely searching
for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Between
2001 and 2002 he scanned thousands of US
government computers from his bedroom,
looking for loopholes which would help him
get inside their networks in order to prove his
contention that the existence of aliens had been
covered up by the CIA.
6 He left messages on the desktops of computers
he had hacked into, a mistake that allowed the
authorities to trace him. “It got a bit silly,” he told
the Guardian in 2005. “I suppose it means I’m
not a secretive, sophisticated, checking-myself-
every-step-of-the-way type of hacker.”
7 McKinnon’s lawyers have argued that he should
face trial in the UK as the hacking raids were
conducted in Britain. If the courts supported such
a decision it would mean he would face a much
smaller sentence under the UK’s more lenient
computer crime laws. The defence argued he
was being unfairly targeted because his work
embarrassed the US security services.
8 They also argued that an attempt by US
prosecutors to make a deal with McKinnon – in
which he would be offered a six-month sentence
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‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition
Level 3 Advanced

for his co-operation – constituted an unfair
derailment of British legal procedures. That
contention was rejected by the law lords, who
said that granting the appeal would “endanger
the integrity of the extradition process”. In the
written judgment they said: “The difference
between the American system and our own
is not perhaps so stark as the appellant’s
argument suggests.”
US is making a clear stand that anyone making
any attempts to compromise its computers and
data will face the consequences,” said Graham
Cluley, of IT security company Sophos.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
First published in The Guardian, 31/07/08

9 Computer security experts said it was unlikely

US prosecutors would give up their pursuit. “The

3 Comprehension check

Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. Gary McKinnon hacked into thousands of US government computers…

a. ... in order to show how easy it was to do so.
b. ... in order to prove the CIA was hiding evidence about the existence of aliens.
c. ... in order to protest about the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

2. Mr McKinnon’s lawyers believe that…

a. ... the US government wants to make an example of him.
b. ... the European courts will be fairer than the British ones.
c. ... his appeal will endanger the integrity of the extradition process.

3. Mr McKinnon describes himself as…

a. ... a thoroughly professional computer expert.
b. ... a clumsy amateur.
c. ... an enemy combatant.

4. Why do Mr McKinnon’s lawyers argue that he should be tried in Britain?

a. Because they believe he will receive a more lenient sentence.
b. Because the actual offences were committed in Britain.
c. Because they believe he will not receive a fair trial in the USA.
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NEWS LESSONS / ‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition / Advanced

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‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition
Level 3 Advanced
4 Find the word
Look in the text and find the following words and phrases. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.

1. A verb meaning to promise that you will do something. (para 1)

2. An adjective meaning causing a lot of harm or damage. (para 2)
3. A verb meaning to officially say that someone must not do something. (para 2)
4. A verb meaning (in American English) to kill someone as a punishment using the electric chair. (para 4)
5. An adjective meaning behaving in a way that is confused an not properly organized. (para 5)
6. A phrasal verb meaning to hide the truth about something. (para 5)
7. A noun meaning the prevention of something from continuing in the way it was planned. (para 8)
8. An adjective meaning extreme and obvious. (para 8)

5 Verb + noun collocations

Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns and noun phrases in the right-hand column to
make collocations from the text.

1. face a. damage
2. lodge b. national security
3. dismiss c. all one’s options
4. threaten d. an appeal
5. exhaust e. the consequences
6. make f. a message
7. cause g. an application
8. leave h. an appeal

6 Phrasal verbs

Complete the phrasal verbs from the text using these particles.

into up with over off up

1. scare __________________ 4. give __________________

2. deal __________________ 5. hand __________________
3. cover __________________ 6. break __________________

7 Discussion
Do you think hackers like Gary McKinnon should be prosecuted? Why? Why not?
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NEWS LESSONS / ‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition / Advanced

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‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition
Level 3 Advanced

KEY

1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. disproportionate 1. vow
2. intolerable 2. devastating
3. lenient 3. bar
4. naive 4. fry
5. appellant 5. bumbling
6. bail 6. cover up
7. extradition 7. derailment
8. contention 8. stark
9. hacker
10. nerd
5 Verb + noun collocations

2 What do you know? 1. e

2. d/h
1. T 3. d/h
2. F 4. b
3. F 5. c
4. F 6. g
5. T 7. a
6. T 8. f

3 Comprehension check 6 Phrasal verbs

1. b 1. off
2. a 2. with
3. b 3. up
4. b 4. up
5. over
6. into
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NEWS LESSONS / ‘Bumbling nerd’ loses battle against extradition / Advanced

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