better-dead-than-fed
06-27-2013, 04:03 PM
Under the Espionage Act, whoever "knowingly and willfully... publishes" certain types of "classified information... shall be fined... or imprisoned... or both." Justice White observed:
When the Espionage Act was under consideration..., Congress... appeared to have little doubt that newspapers would be subject to criminal prosecution if they insisted on publishing information of the type Congress had itself determined should not be revealed.
Employees of large newspapers like the New York Times have published such classified information, but they have never been arrested for it. Former Vice President Dick Cheney comments, "There is... a provision that says it is a felony offense to publish information about communications intelligence.... It's never been enforced. Nobody had the nerve to actually go after the New York Times."
What about people who do not work for large newspapers? Who exactly should be immune from the Espionage Act? Trevor Timm, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, suggests that the privilege should belong to "professional" reporters only.
So much for the regular people who violate the Espionage Act by editing Wikipedia or Tweeting a few words they saw in a New York Times article.
David Carr writes in the New York Times, "The press is frequently accused of giving itself a pass, but the present moment would seem like a good time for a bit of solidarity." Would Carr reserve Espionage-Act immunity for the employees of large newspapers?
http://ablogonpolitics.blogspot.com/2013/06/who-should-be-allowed-to-violate.html
When the Espionage Act was under consideration..., Congress... appeared to have little doubt that newspapers would be subject to criminal prosecution if they insisted on publishing information of the type Congress had itself determined should not be revealed.
Employees of large newspapers like the New York Times have published such classified information, but they have never been arrested for it. Former Vice President Dick Cheney comments, "There is... a provision that says it is a felony offense to publish information about communications intelligence.... It's never been enforced. Nobody had the nerve to actually go after the New York Times."
What about people who do not work for large newspapers? Who exactly should be immune from the Espionage Act? Trevor Timm, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, suggests that the privilege should belong to "professional" reporters only.
So much for the regular people who violate the Espionage Act by editing Wikipedia or Tweeting a few words they saw in a New York Times article.
David Carr writes in the New York Times, "The press is frequently accused of giving itself a pass, but the present moment would seem like a good time for a bit of solidarity." Would Carr reserve Espionage-Act immunity for the employees of large newspapers?
http://ablogonpolitics.blogspot.com/2013/06/who-should-be-allowed-to-violate.html