Rusbridger: destroying hard drives allowed us to continue NSA coverage

[ProSense]

Rusbridger: destroying hard drives allowed us to continue NSA coverage

Guardian editor-in-chief says he agreed to 'slightly pointless' task because newspaper has digital copies outside Britain

Josh Halliday

Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, has said that the destruction of computer hard drives containing information provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden allowed the paper to continue reporting on the revelations instead of surrendering the material to UK courts.

Rusbridger told BBC Radio 4's The World at One on Tuesday that he agreed to the "slightly pointless" task of destroying the devices – which was overseen by two GCHQ officials at the Guardian's headquarters in London – because the newspaper is in possession of digital copies outside Britain.

<...>

"It was a rather bizarre situation in which I explained to them that there were other copies and, as with WikiLeaks, we weren't working in London alone so destroying a copy in London seemed to me a slightly pointless task that didn't take account of the way that digital information works these days," said Rusbridger.

"Given that there were other copies and we could work out of America, which has better laws to protect journalists, I saw no reason not to destroy this material ourselves rather than hand it back to the government."

- more -

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/20/guardian-editor-alan-rusbridger-nsa

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[hobbit709]

2. "Slightly pointless"?

[sheshe2]

3. "slightly pointless", not really.

The Guardian’s Shocking Claim: We Were Forced to Smash Our Computers While Government Goons Observed
Posted on August 20, 2013 at 7:57 am by Bob Cesca
My Tuesday column:

There’s one positive thing I can write about The Guardian‘s handling of the NSA/Snowden saga. They know how to control the narrative. No sooner had a variety of mitigating details come to light about the airport detention and interrogation of David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald’s partner and top secret document courier for The Guardian, when another article shifted the discussion to an entirely new “bombshell” story.

Alan Rusbridger, the publication’s editor-in-chief, wrote an opinion piece about Miranda’s brush with U.K. authorities and the government’s escalation of its so-called attack on journalists (he noted, however, that Miranda isn’t a journalist). The post went on-and-on for eight paragraphs with the usual hand-wringing about the airport incident and the general atmosphere surrounding the reporting of this ongoing NSA/Snowden story.

And then, nine paragraphs deep into this article, Rusbridger described a cloak-and-dagger event that would usually command a banner headline article — a top story in any other publication, but for some reason it was buried in this Miranda screed. Rusbridger wrote that a goon squad from the British government apparently forced Rusbridger to destroy the publication’s computers in the basement of The Guardian‘s offices.

The Guardian’s Editor: We Voluntarily Smashed Our Computers While Government Goons Observed

Here’s how Rusbridger said it all went down.

http://thedailybanter.com/2013/08/the-guardians-shocking-claim-we-were-forced-to-smash-our-computers-while-government-goons-observed/

The point is he lied.

[randome]

5. I just saw that elsewhere.

And the reason the U.K. wanted those hard drives destroyed? Because they were not protected enough from hacking, spies, etc.

Not quite the 'Authorities are out to get us!' mantra the Guardian first reported. Now I see why they are in bed with Greenwald.

Amateurs all.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[sheshe2]

6. They do so love to toss out the flamebait. nt

[GliderGuider]

4. It also avoided a legal finding against the paper that would have constrained them.

A very canny decision on Rusbridger's part, I think.

[ProSense]

7. Frankly, his comments explains why they didn't report it initially. n/t