So we're all terrorists now...

David Miranda and his partner journalist Glenn Greenwald

(reproduced courtesy of The Mirror newspaper)

There's been a flurry of protest in the flabby English press about the detention of David Miranda at Heathrow Airport, purportedly under powers conferred by Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2006.  But not enough.  The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has run to cover, saying it was in the domain of the police, who enjoy operational independence.  (Remember her?  she was the one who assured Parliament of the strength of the government's case to deport Abu Qatada after a deadline had been missed in the procedure.)  On Radio 4 this morning Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the intelligence and security committee, supposed watchdog over the British intelligence agencies, defended the action on the basis that Edward Snowden's revelations had assisted terrorists.

Everyone has been bandying references to Schedule 7 as if we all know it intimately.  But we don't.

Schedule 7 empowers the police to question people at airports for the purpose of determining whether they appear to be a person who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.  The definition of "terrorism" includes the use or threat of action where that use or threat is designed to influence the government, and the action involved endangers another person's life, or creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public.

David Miranda, it is alleged, may have been transporting electronic files of information leaked by Edward Snowden.  Mr Snowden has been leaking a substantial amount of information relating to wide-ranging monitoring, by the US and other governments, of electronic communications.  The only way in which he can be considered to be committing an act of terrorism is that his disclosures are endangering people's lives.  Sir Malcolm considers that the disclosures reveal techniques that terrorists can now circumvent, and hence they are damaging.    

I have a dual reaction to this.  First, it's the first I've heard of Mr Snowden being described as a terrorist.  By extension, Guardian reporters, and any of us who relay anything they publish, become terrorists too.  Secondly, the lesson for whistleblowers is that they have to be highly selective in what they leak.  It was never a level playing-field when it came to individuals alleging abuse by large organisations.  It looks as if  it's just tipped further in the wrong direction.   

Antony Mair