AMY GOODMAN: Katherine Gunn. And she ultimately was acquitted, but she was also charged. This was around information that the U.S. government was spying on the U.N. Security Council members. Is this a way that the British government cracks down, by arresting one or two people? In the end, they're ultimately freed under the British Official Secrets Act, but it is very frightening. It has a chilling effect on all.

DANIEL MASON: It must be absolutely terrifying, because under the Official Secrets Act, if the document is considered to be a threat to national security, you don't have a public interest defense. And the Katherine Gunn case collapsed, because essentially the government realized if it went to court, if they had been bugging the United Nations as Katherine Gunn alleged, that would come out in court, so it was easier for them to just drop the prosecution than to follow it through.

With David Keogh and Leo O’Connor, it’s a bit of mystery as to why they have taken it to this stage. The committal arraignment hearings have happened, and they are due back in court in April this year, where the trial is to take place. So we don't know why the government is so keen to essentially keep this issue alive. There's been suggestions that because Mr. Blair apparently talked Mr. Bush out of the plan, it would reflect quite well on Mr. Blair. I find that quite difficult to believe, because the associated publicity around it can only draw attention to the relationship between the two men. And in the U.K., President Bush is not the most popular character, and Prime Minister Blair's association with him is one of the biggest problems Mr. Blair has got at the moment.

AMY GOODMAN: And you are willing to go to jail if you got somehow hold of this memo?

DANIEL MASON: We would hope that if we got hold of the memo, we’ve got a list of 400 bloggers who have signed up to a list and said they will publish if the memo surfaces. Alongside that, if that happens, it would instantly be spread around the internet so fast, it would be impossible really to pin down one particular person to prosecute. The theory is if enough people publish it, then the Official Secrets Act is useless, because where do they start?

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Daniel Mason, I want to thank you very much for being with us, co-founder of Blair Watch, a British blog tracking the story of the Downing Street memo. If people want to see your blog, what information you have on the memo, where can they go online?

DANIEL MASON: It’s www.BlairWatch.co.uk.

AMY GOODMAN: And of course we will post it at DemocracyNow.org and all other relevant information.

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