The Law Commission’s dangerous proposals would turn whistleblowers and journalists into ‘spies’

Suppose a journalist received information about the secret services from a whistleblower, but decided not to publish it – perhaps even because they thought it might damage national security? Under the Law Commission’s proposals to replace the Official Secrets Acts with a single Espionage Act, both the journalist and whistleblower could be jailed. And if they did publish it, the journalist would no longer be able to rely on a public interest defence. Jim Killock says these proposals to update the UK’s laws around the unauthorised disclosure of official data are yet another attack on the freedom of the press.