3 ms·
The article says it's illegal for a government official to share info without a supervisor's permission... but is there a law saying publishing classified info
by dontbenebby 7y ago
The article says it's illegal for a government official to share info without a supervisor's permission... but is there a law saying publishing classified info is illegal?
In the states, we make that distinction.
- yitchelle 7y agoWhat would be difference between sharing and publishing, from a legal perspective?
- dontbenebby 7y agoI think usually the idea is you prosecute the person who steals the information, but if they pass it to another person who publishes, that person can't be prosecuted. If the same person stole and published I'd expect they could still be prosecuted. But others resharing it, (eg if someone posted a pastebin and others shared) would not.
- throwaway846657 7y agoIn the US the distinction is made so that journalists exposing misdeeds from people in power cannot be prosecuted since the value of the information is too high for the public.
- shakna 7y agoThe police raids, which are still too newly performed to be definitive about, appear to be hunting for the original sources. No charges have been leveled against the journalists involved, yet. It took them years to suddenly care to hunt for these sources, so the whole situation is... Odd.
- sjy 7y agoJulian Assange hasn't been charged with 'publishing classified information' either. In both Australia and the US you can be prosecuted for participating in another's crime of leaking classified information. The question is, what qualifies as participation (aiding, conspiracy, etc), and is there an express or implied exception for the activities of the publisher in question?