391: A Terrified UK Hacker, NASA’s Secret Files & the Life Sentence That Hung Over Him
Mile Higher
Mile Higher Media & Audioboom Studios
4.7 • 23.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 121 minutes
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Summary
Today, the fear of hacking into our government’s sensitive digital information is one of the country’s top national security priorities. However, what if the largest U.S. government hack in history wasn’t perpetrated by a foreign adversary, but a regular guy with his home computer in London? Gary McKinnon, using off-the-shelf, legal software, was able to hack dozens of Government computers, some even located in the Pentagon. His goal: to spread his political message of anti-imperialism and search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. But what followed his hacks was a decade in which he feared extradition and a life behind bars in the United States. Still, the question remains: what did he find?
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Intro 0:00
Gary's Early Life 13:53
Not Like the other Kids 23:24
The Death of the Living Spaces 30:10
Learning to Hack 39:46
Fuel on the Fire 52:16
Breaking into the Government Computers 1:07:25
Simpler than it Should Have Been 1:23:04
Legal Troubles 1:33:00
The End? 1:43:22
Final Thoughts & Outro 1:54:18
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The creator hosts a documentary series for educational purposes (EDSA). These include authoritative sources such as interviews, newspaper articles, and TV news reporting meant to educate and memorialize notable cases in our history. Videos come with an editorial and artistic value.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dan's in. |
| 0:01.0 | Jen's in. |
| 0:01.9 | Tom. Alice. Looks like everyone's on board. Oh, and Jess. Tell Jess to meet us at the train station an hour earlier, though. She's always late. Make it happen with South Eastern Group Save. Save one third on the price of train tickets when you travel at off-peak times in groups of three to nine adults. Buy direct from our Apple website with no booking fees. Terms and conditions apply. |
| 0:21.8 | Find out more at southeastern railway.com. |
| 0:23.9 | UK forward slash group save. |
| 0:27.7 | Hello, friends. |
| 0:30.9 | Before we get into the episode, |
| 0:31.8 | I wanted to let you know that we have a new merch collection out. |
| 0:35.4 | We haven't come out with merch in a couple of months. So we have a |
| 0:38.3 | really cute spring collection. All of the shows have new designs, which I'm very excited about. |
| 0:43.8 | We've got t-shirts. We've got hats. We've got totes. We've got tumblers. We've got tank tops. |
| 0:49.1 | We've got baby teas. We've got cropped tank tops. we've got it all. So there's definitely something for |
| 0:56.7 | everyone over at milehiremerch.com. Also just a reminder that 100% of the proceeds from any |
| 1:04.3 | merch, from any show goes directly to the Higher Hope Foundation to help support victims of |
| 1:10.0 | violent crimes, as well as other |
| 1:12.7 | nonprofits who are in the same scope of work. So get yourself some cute merch for the springtime |
| 1:19.2 | and also, you know, help out a great cause as well. So yeah, happy shopping. |
| 1:51.4 | Music So, yeah, happy shopping. Hey, what is up, everybody? And welcome back to Mile Higher podcast. I'm Josh. I'm Ian. |
| 2:03.1 | And hello. I'm Janelle. Hello. Hey. Hey. Your favorite trio is here. We are still missing our leader, our fearless leader. |
| 2:05.5 | She will be back soon now. |
| 2:08.5 | I know you all are awaiting her return and so am I. |
| 2:09.4 | And all of us. |
... |
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