It's a real shame, Gary is being scapegoated for their own embarrassment - Look into the case of Kevin Mitnick for another example, the PTB are terrified of computer security breaches. When it's there own fault they think making an "example" will deter other would-be-hackers.
Kevin Mitnick spent five years in prison, of which four and a half years were pre-trial, and eight months were in solitary confinement, which is a crime in itself - there were many claims as to what he was capable of doing such as whistling down a telephone to activate nuclear missiles - all bogus of course. There's a great film produced by
www.2600.com called Freedom Downtime that covers the story very well.
Gary is not even a particularly skilled hacker - it was their own fault, he was able to access the computers because of basic stupidity with the security - anyone who hasn't seen the Project Camelot interview yet is well advised.
My heart goes out to Gary. This is the first I've heard for a while and I'm glad to hear he has friends who are helping his cause in this way - I just hope that he prevails and is not extradited!