NSA Files

U.K. Forced Guardian to Destroy Hard Drives

Said enemies could eavesdrop using lasers.

Wait, the files are in the computer? After weeks of threatening legal action, British officials forced The Guardian to destroy the hard drives containing documents leaked by Edward Snowden, according to the U.K. paper. At first British officials said the documents were stolen and demanded they be returned. Then they said foreign governments could spy on conversations at The Guardian by, for example, using lasers to detect vibrations in plastic cups. The Guardian felt that handing over the files would compromise Snowden, so they decided to destroy them, taking the computers to a basement and using drills and grinders as two intelligence agents watched. The Guardian’s editor told the officials that copies existed out of the country so destroying the physical hard drives wouldn’t accomplish anything, but they still wanted them destroyed.