Alleged hacker not looking forward to being fitted for an orange jumpsuit

Alleged hacker Gary McKinnon has accused the US of " using a hammer to squash a gnat" ahead of his 10 May extradition hearing.

"What I did was just unauthorised access," McKinnon said. "I'm pissed off that six months' community service has turned out to be 60 years in a foreign jail."

McKinnon claimed that there is often an overreaction in cases of hacking that do not match the level of the supposed crime.

"I did not do any damage. Lovebug did more damage than my alleged damage did, not just to military systems but to ATMs, hospitals, power grids, all sorts of systems," he said.

"It's just like when Matthew Bevan was arrested in 1995. They called him the biggest threat to national security since Hitler. What a load of rubbish.

"I've only seen a few cases where the reaction has been in good ratio to the crime, such as the Citibank case. But that was the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars and it was all down to organised crime in Russia in the end."

The decision on whether McKinnon is extradited will be made at the 10 May hearing, and he rates his chances as 50-50. "I'm worried, and I know I've got a fight on my hands," he said.

While his case has been going on, McKinnon has questioned the whole extradition procedure America is using.

"The new extradition treaty, which isn't ratified by the US Senate yet, is a one-ended treaty. It is also retrospective, which is against international treaty laws," he said.

"It's also meant to be a fast track for combating terrorism, but it's being for used for people like me, people in finance, lots of businessmen. The US administration is completely misusing the law."

McKinnon's biggest fear, however, is that the US feels that it can hold people in Guantanamo Bay who aren't even accused of attacking the US.

"I won't stand a chance in hell if I get extradited, because I will probably come under military order number one," he said.

"This means a secret military tribunal with a military lawyer, no rights of appeal, no rights of public comment and no press. It'll be Gary goes down a black hole and you don't see him again."

According to McKinnon, the top military brass claim that "it's where he's been and what he's seen" that poses the threat.

McKinnon has always asserted that he was hacking to discover the truth about UFOs and, while he's a free man, he is happy to discuss his findings.

"I was looking for suppressed technology and UFOs," he said. "I'd read a book by Stephen Greer called Disclosure that has expert testimonies ranging from civilian air traffic controllers and military radar operators, right up to the guys who are in charge of whether or not to launch nuclear missiles."

McKinnon claims that he found secret files on the Johnson Space Center's systems, including unprocessed and unfiltered photos in a proprietary Nasa image format.

He describes a cigar-shaped object surrounded by domes, which looked like it was made from a single piece of metal without any seams.