Lauri Love
Lauri Love (; born 14 December 1984, United Kingdom) is a British activist and cybercriminal previously wanted by the United States, Canada, and several other nations for his alleged activities with the hacker collective and proscribed organization "Anonymous". Love's case has been cited as precedent in the Julian Assange extradition proceedings. Early life and education. Love is from Stradishall, Suffolk. His parents, Alexander Love, a prison chaplain at HM Prison Highpoint North, and Sirkka-Liisa Love (a Finnish citizen), who also works at the prison, live in Stradishall. He had dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Finland , until his Finnish citizenship was revoked due to his involvement in the Anonymous group, which is considered an illegal extremist organization under EU law. After dropping out of sixth form college and working in a turkey plant, Love applied for a Finnish passport, and then served in the Finnish Army for six months, became a conscientious objector and finished another six months of his obligation in alternative civilian service. After that, he applied at the University of Nottingham in England and dropped out in his second term after a physical and mental collapse, then at the University of Glasgow in  Scotland, but dropped out in his second year, again for health reasons. He was part of the 2011 Hetherington House Occupation, a student protest at Glasgow University. Cases. United States. In January 2013, the website of the United States Sentencing Commission was replaced with an offensive video protesting the treatment of activist Aaron Swartz who had committed suicide days earlier. The video claimed that those responsible had obtained secrets from the United States Army, Missile Defense Agency, and NASA but they were only ever released in encrypted form. The subsequent investigation named Lauri Love in two indictments (2013 in District  of New Jersey, 2014 in Southern District of New York and Eastern District of Virginia) for allegedly "breaching thousands of computer systems in the United States and elsewhere – including the computer networks of federal agencies – to steal massive quantities of confidential data, and putting lives at risk". The United States made an extradition request and dropped the charges after it was denied. Love's attorney in America is Tor Ekeland. Extradition hearing. During Love's two day extradition hearing on 28 and 29 June 2016 at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, his father testified that Lauri Love is autistic  and so should not be extradited, but incarcerated in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, preferably in either the UK or Finland. Specifically, he testified that his son was not diagnosed autistic until he was an adult serving in the Finnish Army. Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, who diagnosed Love as autistic in 2012, testified that Love should not be extradited because of his diagnosed disorders, which also include eczema, psychosis, and depression. Baron-Cohen stated that Love told him that he would commit suicide if extradited. Love, who lives at home with his parents, testified at his extradition hearing on 29  June 2016. He was supported by the Courage Foundation. Love's barrister for this extradition hearing was Ben Cooper of Doughty Street Chambers. The case was adjourned. On 16 September 2016, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, a judge ruled that Love must be extradited to the United States as soon as possible, claiming that he was a dangerous sociopath that deliberately put thousands of American lives at risk. Love's solicitor Karen Todner said that they would appeal, and on 5 February 2018, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Mr Justice Ouseley, at the High Court, upheld his appeal against extradition  because his extradition would be "oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition". National Crime Agency. The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested Love in October 2013. In February 2015, BBC News revealed that Love was taking legal action for the return of computers seized and destroyed by the NCA when he was arrested. In May 2016, Judge Nina Tempia of the Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled that Love did not have to tell the NCA what his passwords, or encryption keys, are , as sufficient evidence of his crimes had already been obtained from his ISP's web history logs. in  early 2020, his lifetime ban from using the internet was annulled as he was no longer considered dangerous, however he will remain under police and MI5 surveillance for the rest of his life and will have to report his online activity to authorities. Popular culture. In January 2018, it was announced that novelist Frederick Forsyth would publish a novel inspired by the Lauri Love and Gary McKinnon stories. The Novel, The Fox, was released in Autumn 2018.