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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUK gov.raided the Guardian’s offices & destroyed hard drives of Snowden's information!
Oh my, a modern Watergate is unfolding....
In a remarkable post, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger describes how the British government raided the Guardians offices in order to destroy hard drives containing information provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The British government had been pressuring the Guardian to return or destroy the Snowden documents.
Rusbridger says he tried to explain that destroying hard drives would be pointless:
I explained to the man from Whitehall about the nature of international collaborations and the way in which, these days, media organisations could take advantage of the most permissive legal environments.
Bluntly, we did not have to do our reporting from London. Already most of the NSA stories were being reported and edited out of New York. And had it occurred to him that Greenwald lived in Brazil?
The man was unmoved. And so one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardians long history occurred - with two GCHQ security experts overseeing the destruction of hard drives in the Guardians basement just to make sure there was nothing in the mangled bits of metal which could possibly be of any interest to passing Chinese agents Whitehall was satisfied, but it felt like a peculiarly pointless piece of symbolism that understood nothing about the digital age.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/19/u-k-government-thought-destroying-guardian-hard-drives-would-stop-snowden-stories/
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)As if that would protect him from a murder charge..
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I swear. And they want to "dominate" the Internet?
Vinnie From Indy
(10,820 posts)intelligence on everyone? The security service leaders are looking more and more like the Keystone Cops with every new revelation. Where is the adult supervision of these yahoos?
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Surely no intelligent person leaves their only copy of important documents on one machine, esp. when going thru airport security or something like that. You would think the gov. knows that.
Maybe we should be thankful they do not......
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)Storming into the offices of a newspaper and destroying potentially damaging information.
Evidence of antidemocratic behavior.
neverforget
(9,436 posts)The intel agencies are certainly going to great lengths to stop this "old news".
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
How do they know whether or not they even got the correct ones?
Maybe the files are in a flash drive or two somewhere, Snowden is sure to have backup on backup.
He is quite aware of the mentality of the thugs he is up against.
AND
I can almost understand seizing and checking someone's computer WITH REASONABLE CAUSE AND A WARRANT,
but to just blow in like the gestapo - yup - GESTAPO, and destroy private property,
something is just a wee bit wrong here.
CC
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Indeed..my gob is properly smacked....
Honestly, this kind of behavior was what we expected of Nixon.
The cover up of a 3rd rate burglary to steal files was what brought him down... the coverup was of paramount importance because he knew the break in would be very harmful to his reign.
And he was right.
But NOW..we have a gov't that has bragged of the "special relationship" with the US, invading a newspaper office and destroying property property, AND the US admits knowing ahead of time of this behavior and never gave it a 2nd thought.
I think Miranda and Greenwald need to stay away for airplanes for a long time........
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
Snowden also methinks . . .
CC
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
From what I've read, they just destroyed whatever they saw,
so they have no idea whether or not they destroyed the "right" ones.
And it sure wasn't legal by any standards.
Jackboots are back.
CC
Cerridwen
(13,252 posts)is what they're trying to hide as bad as or worse than what they think the documents contain?
What is it that has the "intelligence" community so worried? Is it there in the documents? Or is what they're hiding so huge...?
Sorry, Mojorabbit. I went off on a tangent.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)Cerridwen
(13,252 posts)Unlike so many here who have yet to (or will ever) put their lives on the line; you know; as do I. The real divide on DU: those who have fought in the trenches and those who consider internet posting as fighting.
I recognize a fellow warrior spirit. Namaste.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I was actually thinking of something similar a few moments ago.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)Harmony Blue
(3,978 posts)and the worst part is they damaged property for no logical reason.
kentuck
(111,052 posts)Stop the outlets and newspapers that choose to expose the information. That is an effective way to stop the secrets from being exposed.