LONDON -- A judge at the Bow Street Magistrates' Court last week approved a U.S. government request to extradite an unemployed systems administrator who allegedly caused US$700,000 in damage by hacking into U.S. military and government computers.
U.S. prosecutors allege that Gary McKinnon, a 40-year-old London resident, significantly disrupted systems from February 2001 to March 2002, causing damage that jeopardized the operations of U.S. military networks.
Among other charges, prosecutors claim that McKinnon deleted files from computers at Naval Weapons Station Earle , a U.S. Navy base in New Jersey. That caused the shutdown of about 300 systems in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to U.S. authorities.
McKinnon, who said he would appeal the extradition order, has acknowledged that he accessed systems owned by the Navy, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. But he maintains that he was researching UFOs and that he didn't damage any of the computers.
McKinnon's attorneys had feared that he could be classified as an enemy combatant by the U.S. government and held indefinitely. But the U.S. said it plans to try McKinnon as a conventional defendant in U.S. District Court in Virginia.
Nasscom to create data security watchdog
DELHI, INDIA -- The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) is creating an organization that will develop best practices for data security and privacy within India's IT services, call center and business process outsourcing industries and then monitor their use.
"We are planning a self-regulatory organization that will be initially set up by Nasscom but will operate independently," said Sunil Mehta, a vice president at the Delhi-based trade group. "We want to change the rules of outsourcing to India."
The Nasscom initiative comes in the wake of allegations in the U.S. and the U.K. that Indian call center workers have stolen and illegally sold data. The best-practices organization will be established later this year, Mehta said, adding that a CEO and board of directors will be elected by the new group's membership.
Philippines not seen as site for software work
MANILA -- While the Philippines has become a top destination for offshore call center work, it still lags far behind India and China as a center for software development, two U.S. executives said during presentations at a conference here last week.
"The Philippines doesn't even come to mind," Stephanie Childs, vice president of government affairs at the Information Technology Association of America, said at the Software Innovations Philippines 2006 conference.
Randall Reade, president of software exporter Zipzone Ltd. in Washington, said that rising costs in India are prompting some U.S. companies to look elsewhere for offshore development services.
But, Reade added, "frankly, no one even has an image of the Philippines" as a location for software development.
Briefly noted
-- Internode Systems Pty. in Adelaide, Australia, has inked a three-year deal valued at 2.2 million Australian dollars ($1.7 million U.S.) to provide Internet services to the state government of South Australia. The deal covers 70,000 workers and includes the development of redundant 1Gbit/sec. fiber-optic links to the state's Internet Gateway portal.
-- The Philippine government is pushing for the adoption of newer Internet technologies, particularly IP Version 6. Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, a member of the Philippines Commission on Information and Communications Technology , said IPv6 will first be adopted in government offices, which currently lack any IP infrastructure. It will then be aimed at businesses, he said.
-- Cisco Systems Inc. and T-Systems International GmbH in Hamburg, Germany, have agreed to jointly develop smart-tag systems for logistics and retail companies. Cisco and the IT services provider said they will first work with German companies and later expand to the rest of Europe. They didn't disclose when the systems will be available.