British judge: Anonymous hacker must be extradited to US

Lauri Love, the 31-year-old British hacker arrested in the United Kingdom in 2015, may be extradited to the United States, where he faces charges of hacking NASA, the military and other agencies. Love still has options to appeal.

A British judge delivered the ruling on Friday. As part of hacking group Anonymous, Love is said to have been partly responsible for hacks on the US military, the Federal Reserve, the FBI, NASA, MIT and the Missile Defense Agency. Employee data has also been published. The offensive, called Operation Last Resort, was revenge for the suicide of Aaron Swartz. Love was arrested in 2013, but was released on bail. In 2015, he was arrested again, this time because of the United States’ extradition request.

Love’s lawyers argued that he would not last in the US prison system because of his health condition. The Briton has Asperger’s syndrome and suffers from depression. The risk that he would commit suicide in an American cell would be too great. The judge ultimately did not agree and stated that the American prison system would have the means to prevent such an attempt from succeeding.

Love’s lawyers also refer to the case of Gary McKinnon, a British hacker whose extradition was refused by the British Home Secretary under very similar circumstances. The defense wants the same done for Love. Whether that will work in this case is up to the current Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. If he is not willing to assist the hacker, Love can still appeal. The hacker could face up to 99 years in prison in the US.