London cops use Official Secrets Act to demand identities of journalists' confidential sources

Mike sez,

London's Metropolitan Police, already under huge criticism for their cosy relationship with Rupert Murdoch's News International and their failure to investigate phone hacking of amongst others, members of the royal family, celebrities, politicians and relatives of soldiers and terrorist victims, have decided to use the UK's draconian Official Secrets Act to force a newspaper to name its journalists' sources.
The only thing is, the paper being targetted isn't in the News International stable; it's The Guardian - the paper that exposed the scandal and caused the police so much embarrassment. In a free society, journalists' sources are meant to be protected and the Guardian and the National Union of Journalists are going to fight this action.

Phone hacking: Met use Official Secrets Act to force Guardian to reveal sources

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MORE: authoritarianism • Civlib • london • police • privacy • uk

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http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

BRITAIN SLIPS QUIETLY BACK INTO 1970s
- PJDK
  
  1970s?
  
  Does anywhere actually protect sources by law? I thought the NYT was quite proud of its journalists going to jail to protect sources.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607675355 Brent Kirkham

Before we enraged comments about free speech from our cousins in Oceania, I will state this again:
We, on Airstrip One, DO NOT have a constitution or a right to free speech. Our government make it all up as it goes along.

Thank you. The TEST ends………………………. NOW!
- Gulliver
  
  Don’t worry, Brent. There’s plenty of room at the bottom for all of us. We have a constitution and this shit still happens.
- howaboutthisdangit
  
  If you need a constitution you can borrow ours – we don’t seem to be using it at the moment.
Bubba73

I would imagine the copper who leaked will get paid leave while the journos will be lined up against the wall.
awjt

Why do sources even reveal *themselves* to journalists? Why not just reveal the *info* and leave it at that.
- jackbird
  
  Presumably so the journalists can vet the information provided. If I call up Seymour Hersh and spout off about some made-up malfeasance at the Pentagon, he can take that less seriously than he would if I were, say, a general.
Teller

Aren’t these cops treading into Julian’s harsh realm?