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August 21, 2013

British Prime Minister Office's Involved in Forced Destruction of Guardian Hard Drives 
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The British government also continues to come under fire over news it
forced The Guardian to destroy hard drives containing leaked information
from Edward Snowden. The Guardian has revealed it agreed to smash
several computers in its London office after the British government
threatened legal action. On Tuesday, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger
said he agreed to the British government's demand in order to avoid the
newspaper's potential closure.

Alan Rusbridger: "We were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the
British government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy
it then they would move to law. That would mean prior restraint, a
concept that is anathema in America and other parts of the world, in
which the state can effectively prevent a publisher from publishing, and
I didn't want to get into that position. Once it was obvious that they
would be going to law I would rather destroy the the copy than hand it
back to them or allow the courts to freeze our reporting."

Rusbridger says identical copies of Snowden's leaks are with Guardian
reporters abroad, allowing the newspaper to continue its work. The
office of British Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed it had
direct involvement in pressuring the Guardian over Snowden's files. On
Tuesday, the Obama administration sought to distance itself from the
destruction of the Guardian's hard drives. Asked at the White House news
briefing if the U.S. government would ever take similar actions against
a media outlet, deputy spokesperson Josh Earnest, said: "That's very
difficult to imagine a scenario in which that would be appropriate."

 

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