EPILOGUE

considering hackers and their behavioural patterns. Hackers are not,
of course, all autistic; in fact very few of them are (although some
celebrated ones, such as Gary McKinnon, wanted in the United States
for hacking into the Pentagon, have been diagnosed with Asperger's
syndrome). But they do appear to conform to many of the clinical
observations recorded by Professor Baron-Cohen of personalities who
sit quite far down the 'male' end of the spectrum.

With further research, this could mean that it will be possible to
identify hacker personality types among children who are still at school.
In this way, peers and mentors could encourage their skills while, at
the same time, offering them ethical guidance so that their abilities
can be channelled in positive directions. The word 'hacker' tends to
carry pejorative overtones. But the capacity to hack is in fact an asset,
both personal and societal. Computers and networks will never be safe
if they are not protected by advanced hackers. Some such individuals
are already working to that end. In my experience, 90 per cent of the
hackers involved in criminal activities expressed a powerful desire to
work within the licit security industry - and, even with a criminal
conviction, they should surely be given the chance.

Adewale Taiwo, aka Freddybb

On 1st January 2009 Adewale Taiwo was sentenced to four years'
imprisonment by Hull Crown Court for conspiracy to defraud between
June 2004 and February 2008. He had pleaded guilty to the previous
November to one count, having already admitted to defrauding just
under £600,000 from bank accounts around the world. The judge
recommended that, on completion of his sentence, he be deported to
Nigeria.

With time discounted for good behaviour, Taiwo was due for release
on 29th August 2010. Two weeks earlier he had appeared in court in
Grimsby, across the Humber estuary from Hull. This was a hearing
stipulated by Britain's Proceeds of Crime Act, one of Tony Blair's rare
sensible amendments to the criminal-justice system, which enables
the state to recover assets from criminals. It was a farcical end to a
serious case. The prosecutor had mislaid a key file, triggering an unex-
pected reaction from the bearded Judge Graham Robinson, whose
initial good humour quickly turned sour. He announced that he was