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Encyclopedia entry: Official Secrets Act
- Article from:
- The Oxford Companion to British History
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Companion to British History 2002, originally published by Oxford University Press 2002. (Hide copyright information)
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Official Secrets Act,
1911. The first Official Secrets Act (1889) was ineffective. It required the government to
prove
a suspect was a spy, even where it was obvious. The 1911 Act put this right, and extended the law further. It was passed in a panic, during an anti-German spy scare, and on a hot summer's day when many MPs had gone home. Section I dealt with espionage; section II, however, forbade the unauthorized ...