On 9 March 2017 at 16:28, Phillip Hallam-Baker <phill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > US law is rather interesting. Unlike UK law where it is not necessary to > 'sign the official secrets act' to be covered by it, US civil law is rather > less severe. Military law is a different matter, active duty military can be > ordered to be careful with classified materials. Civil law requires > intention to transmit to an unauthorized party or carelessness amounting to > constructive intent. In the UK, you don't have to have "signed the Act" to be covered by it since the 1989 Act, no. You do, however, sign even now, but it's there to remove a particular defence of "I didn't know this was classified [any more]", since one signs to acknowledge that information seen might be classified and that one understands that one shouldn't disclose them. Of course this is delightfully off topic at this point. Dave.