Last month, technicians from GCHQ, the UK electronic surveillance agency, stood over journalists from The Guardian newspaper to make sure that they destroyed a computer containing files leaked to them by Edward Snowden, the former contractor to the US National Security Agency. This week, the British police abused anti-terror legislation to detain David Miranda, the partner of Glenn Greenwald, a Guardian journalist, and seize his files. Coming up next: officials from the NSA and GCHQ bang their heads against a brick wall in frustration at having allowed Mr Snowden to abscond with their secrets. It would be as effective, and legal.
上个月，英国电子侦听机构——国家通信总部(GCHQ)的技术人员紧盯着《卫报》(The Guardian)记者，以确保他们破坏了一台电脑，该电脑上装有由美国国家安全局(NSA)前合同工爱德华•斯诺登(Edward Snowden)披露给他们的文件。就在本周，英国警方又借用反恐法律，拘留了《卫报》记者格伦•格林沃尔德(Glenn Greenwald)的伴侣戴维•米兰达(David Miranda)，并没收了他的文档。接下来的一幕是，NSA和GCHQ官员对于自己竟然让斯诺登带着大量机密潜逃，气得用头撞墙。这么做的有效性相同，还合法。