‘Proposals by the Law Commission to reform the 1989 Official Secrets Act (OSA) could lead to the imprisonment of civil servants and journalists for disclosing information that would be available to anyone asking for it under the Freedom of Information Act, a leading campaigner for freedom of information has said.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 15th May 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Whistleblowers and journalists could be imprisoned for revealing documents that can be obtained through freedom of information requests, campaigners have warned.’
The Guardian, 14th May 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Interested parties have been given an extra month to comment on proposals for a new law to protect official secrets after an unexpected media furore. Citing a ‘large amount of interest’ the Law Commission said that its deadline for responding to the public consultation on Protection of Official Data had been extended to 3 May.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 9th March 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘With its proposed changes to the Official Secrets Act, the Law Commission would make it all but impossible for government wrongdoing to be exposed.’
The Guardian, 13th February 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Legislation drafted to stop Edwardian secret agents lurking around dockyards or purloining papers from ambassadors’ desks is still the basis of protecting official data in the Wikileaks era, according to the Law Commission. In a report commissioned by the Cabinet Office on the protection of official data, the law reform body describes the body of law protecting data as ‘irrational, dispersed and lacking in uniformity’.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th February 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Officials Secret Acts are being independently reviewed to ensure that the law is keeping pace with the challenges of the 21st century.’
Law Commission, 2nd February 2017
Source: www.lawcom.gov.uk
‘The police watchdog has taken charge of an inquiry into the handling of an alleged incident involving Cyril Smith.’
BBC News, 27th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Theresa May has said the claims a police investigation into the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith was scrapped, and corruption blocked other historic police operations into child abuse, were “shocking and could lead to criminal prosecutions”.’
The Guardian, 17th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘An undercover police operation that gathered evidence of child abuse by Cyril Smith and other public figures was scrapped shortly after the MP was arrested, BBC Newsnight has been told.’
BBC News, 16th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Rosalind English has summarised this unsuccessful appeal against the rejection of the Chagossians’ claims by the Divisional Court, and I have posted on this litigation arising out of the removal and subsequent exclusion of the population from the Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 26th May 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Supreme Court, 12th March 2014
‘A police chief has issued a partial apology over his attempt to force Channel 4 to hand over documents about a whistleblower who revealed how undercover officers infiltrated the campaign to bring the killers of Stephen Lawrence to justice.’
The Guardian, 14th January 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Police have asked for information about Peter Francis, the whistleblower who revealed a raft of claims about a police undercover unit, including that they had spied on relatives of Stephen Lawrence.’
Daily Telegraph, 14th January 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A former undercover police officer who blew the whistle on a covert Scotland Yard squad has been denied immunity from prosecution for potential breaches of the Official Secrets Act.”
The Guardian, 18th September 2013
Source: www.guardian.com
“Tougher laws are needed to prevent members of the public from revealing official secrets, former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Blair has said.”
The Guardian, 26th August 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A former head of the SAS’s counter-terrorist team is suing the Metropolitan Police claiming he was wrongfully accused of leaking secret intelligence reports to a journalist.”
Daily Telegraph, 8th December 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The aborted attempt by the Metropolitan police to force the Guardian to disclose confidential sources and other journalistic material raises important issues about press freedom and the way Operation Weeting is being conducted.”
The Guardian, 22nd September 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Metropolitan police is to be allowed explain to MPs in private why it threatened to invoke the Officials Secrets Act in an attempt to force the Guardian to hand over notes and reveal sources behind its phone-hacking coverage.”
The Guardian, 21st September 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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