Britain forced Guardian to destroy copy of Snowden material

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Britain forced Guardian to destroy copy of Snowden material

By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:54pm EDT

(Reuters) - The editor of the Guardian, a major outlet for revelations based on leaks from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, says the British government threatened legal action against the newspaper unless it either destroyed the classified documents or handed them back to British authorities.

In an article posted on the British newspaper's website on Monday, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said that a month ago, after the newspaper had published several stories based on Snowden's material, a British official advised him: "You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back."

After further talks with the government, Rusbridger said, two "security experts" from Government Communications Headquarters, the British equivalent of the ultra-secretive U.S. National Security Agency, visited the Guardian's London offices.

In the building's basement, Rusbridger wrote, government officials watched as computers which contained material provided by Snowden were physically pulverized. "We can call off the black helicopters," Rusbridger says one of the officials joked.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/19/us-usa-security-snowden-guardian-idUSBRE97I10E20130819

[intaglio]

1. So what?

The UK has different laws from the USA, holders of classified material either have to return it or destroy it. This is not in breech of the European Convention on Human Rights because destruction allows newspapers to protect their sources.