Edward Snowden articles 'could be acts of terror'
The publication of material leaked by Edward Snowden is capable of being an act of terrorism, the home secretary's barrister has said.
The claim was made in legal papers in a High Court case in which the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald is challenging his detention at Heathrow in August under anti-terror laws.
David Miranda was carrying data files for Mr Greenwald who has covered data leaked by US whistleblower Mr Snowden.
He says his detention was unlawful.
The two-day judicial review action is being contested by the home secretary and the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Miranda was en route from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro on 18 August when he was detained, questioned and searched by police at Heathrow under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Nine items, including his mobile phone, laptop, memory cards and DVDs were taken from him.
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BBC News - Edward Snowden articles 'could be acts of terror'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24830684
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UK Gov't Losing The Plot: Now Claiming Snowden Leaks Could Help Pedophiles
from the wtf? dept
Having already gone down the crazy path to arguing that journalism can be terorrism if it's "designed to influence a government," in the David Miranda detention lawsuit, the UK government is also claiming that the Ed Snowden leaks may help pedophiles. This seems to be a dystopian updated version of copyright maximalists trying to use child porn to support their own arguments. The general thinking is "just make some sort of nonsensical connection to child porn, and that'll show people how serious this is." The reality is that since most people can think, they realize that there is no connection to child porn, and thus the claim makes no sense. Same thing here, but at an even more bizarre level of insanity.
Paedophiles may escape detection because highly-classified material about Britain’s surveillance capabilities have been published by the Guardian newspaper, the government has claimed.
A senior Whitehall official said data stolen by Edward Snowden, a former contractor to the US National Security Agency, could be exploited by child abusers and other cyber criminals.
How? Uh, don't ask silly questions like that. The government has said "child abusers" so shut up and be scared. The Telegraph article, by David Barrett, admits that the government didn't explain how it made this connection, but then attempts to connect the dots for you:
it is well known that many paedophiles use the internet to share child pornography and to groom potential victims. They also use “peer to peer” groups on the web to communicate with other child abusers.
Any clues about how to evade detection which have been provided by Mr Snowden’s leaks could help paedophiles to cover their tracks.
But, under that argument, any privacy or encryption could be lumped into that same camp. Does David Barrett or the UK government refuse to use SSL on webpages, since encryption can be used to cover the tracks of pedophiles? The argument shows just how painfully desperate the UK government is in this case -- and also how petty and jealous it appears the Guardian's UK competitors have become, in that this is reported as if Snowden's efforts seriously would "help pedophiles."
UK Gov't Losing The Plot: Now Claiming Snowden Leaks Could Help Pedophiles | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/...k-govt-losing-plot-now-claiming-snowden-leaks-could-help-pedophiles.shtml