I dindt really know whether to comment on this one because it has just been debated and debated over and over for the last few months/years but here goes...
There are two real sides to the issue IMO. Firstly, the moral one in relation to handing him over to the U.S, and secondly the issue regarding is his forthcoming sentence to harsh.
People have argued that he commited the crime on Britsh soil so shouldnt be turned over, but others have argued that the actual crime was breaking into the computer which was on american soil.
I feel really sorry for the bloke because he is clearly just a loser who felt important by the fact that he could poke around in the superpowers national security. But at the end of the day, not only did he do the crime, but he also had the opportunity to do a lesser sentence and due to some bad decisions is now looking at 70 years, some were even talking off the death penalty.
Would the U.S be extraditing him back to us if the crime was commited the other way round? I very much doubt it, particularly on an election year. I know its cheesy but if you can;t do the time, dont do the crime.
With regards to whether he was looking for aliens, its all complete nonsense IMO. If he found all of this info he would have kept evidence and gone live with it straight away, i dont believe any of his story about not being able to, he could have taken a photo of his monitor if nothing else had worked for gods sake!
I wish he hadnt been extradited as he will fry in america but I do think he should do a fair amount of time for it.
