Priti Patel’s new threat to British journalists
15 June 2021
An article in Declassified UK looks at the UK government's plans to amend the Official Secrets Act, including quotes from our Director Emeritus, Tony Bunyan.
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"Tony Bunyan, emeritus director of Statewatch, a group devoted to monitoring threats to civil liberties, warns that British leakers of information would be treated the same as foreigners indulging in espionage — what Margaret Thatcher called the “enemy within” would be treated the same as foreign spies.
Bunyan also points to the Home Office paper’s suggestion that extra powers should be given to the police under a new Police and Criminal Evidence (Pace) act. The paper says new powers would be needed to “enhance our ability to detect, deter, disrupt and prosecute those acting against the UK and its interests”.
He says this clearly refers to the use of “remote access” to any computer or phone anywhere to collect evidence or to alter files which are part of the armoury of GCHQ, Britain’s signals intelligence agency."
Full article here.
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