> With a normal NDA, if you publish information you're not supposed to, they can go to court and prove that the information was covered by the NDA and then get an order to stop you from continuing to publish it or sue you for damages.
That is exactly what happened in this instance. The court determined he did violate the agreement. The information did not need to be classified, any "mention of intelligence data or activities" was covered. The agreement outlined the damages that would be assessed -- the proceeds from the publication.
Son of Sam laws and prior restraint is probably not relevant here, these obligations are the result of a voluntary contract he signed. All of the case law I'm aware of surrounding those are about obligatory restrictions, not ones that were voluntarily accepted. In general, prior restraint has national security exceptions, and there's no way any sane court is going to rule that the NSA secrecy agreements aren't legal.
> The agreement outlined the damages that would be assessed -- the proceeds from the publication.
But that's the issue. When the contracting party is the government and the "damages" for not abiding by a prior restraint are calculated to precisely coincide with any incentive anyone could provide to supply the information to the public (i.e. calculated to provide disincentive rather than compensate for actual damages), it's infringing on the right of every member of the public to pay for the information -- and those members of the public never agreed to any such contract. Especially when the restriction is specifically being imposed on the purchaser rather than the recipient, since the recipient isn't even in the court's jurisdiction at the time of the payment.
That is exactly what happened in this instance. The court determined he did violate the agreement. The information did not need to be classified, any "mention of intelligence data or activities" was covered. The agreement outlined the damages that would be assessed -- the proceeds from the publication.
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/snowd...
Son of Sam laws and prior restraint is probably not relevant here, these obligations are the result of a voluntary contract he signed. All of the case law I'm aware of surrounding those are about obligatory restrictions, not ones that were voluntarily accepted. In general, prior restraint has national security exceptions, and there's no way any sane court is going to rule that the NSA secrecy agreements aren't legal.