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There is (generally speaking) no prior restraint against publishing classified information in the United States. Snowden is in trouble for disclosing classified

There is (generally speaking) no prior restraint against publishing classified information in the United States. Snowden is in trouble for disclosing classified information that he didn't have a right to disclose by virtue of his employment. Anyone not so restricted can (generally speaking) publish any classified information they get a hold of, although they might be strongly discouraged from doing so for a variety of reasons. It is like the situation with trade secrets - anyone can publish trade secrets except those who have a duty not to disclose them, and often they can as well once the secret becomes public knowledge. There are, however, statutory exceptions for national defense information like plans to a military base or plans and specifications for certain weapons. In those cases it doesn't matter how you came into possession of the related documents you can't legally publish it anyway.

CuriousCosmic 4y ago
To add onto this, when it comes to "classified" information, it generally falls into two types: 1. Actual classified information (Secret, TS, SCI, SAP). This information is classified by people with clearances according to a set of guidelines and all information has to be more or less manually classified. If you were to independently produce this information (without knowledge or information from the classified project), you are legally in the clear to publish. 2. Restricted information (RD, FRD, SNM). Unlike with classified information, what is or isn't considered restricted is regulated by the DOE. Because of this, information can be "restricted at inception" which prevents it from being published regardless of how it was obtained or produced. Point being that just because information isn't classified and you may have acquired it through independent means, you can still be restricted from sharing it because the US has deemed it "inherently dangerous" to national security. Note: I don't think the code in question could by any stretch be considered RD or FRD.

CuriousCosmic 4y ago

To add onto this, when it comes to "classified" information, it generally falls into two types: 1. Actual classified information (Secret, TS, SCI, SAP). This information is classified by people with clearances according to a set of guidelines and all information has to be more or less manually classified. If you were to independently produce this information (without knowledge or information from the classified project), you are legally in the clear to publish. 2. Restricted information (RD, FRD, SNM). Unlike with classified information, what is or isn't considered restricted is regulated by the DOE. Because of this, information can be "restricted at inception" which prevents it from being published regardless of how it was obtained or produced. Point being that just because information isn't classified and you may have acquired it through independent means, you can still be restricted from sharing it because the US has deemed it "inherently dangerous" to national security. Note: I don't think the code in question could by any stretch be considered RD or FRD.