The government is coming under increasing pressure from a sustained PR campaign by supporters of Gary McKinnon to stop his extradiction to the USA.

British citizen Gary is accused of hacking into more than 90 US millitary computer systems and was indicted by a US court in November 2002, he has been in jail ever since fighting his case.

His supporters say that he is unlikely to receive a fair trial in US has the case has been severly tainted by the press coverage they are also concerned about the severity of the sentence he is likely to be handed. If found guilty he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

It is easy to see why the Americans take matters of national security so seriously but the question is,what is to be gained by this prosecution. The hacking in was by admission only for his own amusement and the information that was uncovered was never passed on to any third. He has committed a crime and freely admits his guilt and would be happy to stand trial before a UK court where a sentence more appropriate to the level of thrat he poses is likely to be passed down. The way that the UK government seems determined to commit Mr McKinnon to a lifetime behind bars says a lot about the one sided nature of the so called 'special relationship'.

The Extradition Act 2003 under which this case is being pursued is a case in point. The Act requires any request by the UK to prove 'probable cause' of a crime whereas the US simply has to have 'reasonable suspicion'.

This has been significantly downgraded since the previous Act - at the US's request of course - where they had to have 'prima facie' evidence, that is evidence which — unless rebutted — would be sufficient to prove a particular case. A much stiffer requirement and one that ensured only those likely to be guilty would face extradition. Now from what Gary's case has revealed about the nitty gritty of the Act for the first time is that it is now open season on anyone simply looking to be questioned about a crime in US.

The 2003 Act essentially watered down the rules, making it harder for the UK to extradite from the US and easier for the US to extradite a suspect from the UK.

Special relationship, special to who exactly?