{
  "title": "Ladder: secrets and espionage laws, in Oceania",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/secrets_and_espionage_laws?continent=oceania",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "oceania"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
    "name": "Secrets and espionage laws",
    "definition": "Laws that make it a crime to obtain, keep or disclose information a government has classified as secret, such as the Espionage Act, a 1917 United States law against disclosing defence information, or the Official Secrets Acts of the United Kingdom. Governments use them to prosecute journalists or, more often, the officials who gave journalists information.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/secrets_and_espionage_laws"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 1,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2019-australia-afp-raids-abc-afghan-files",
          "title": "Australian Federal Police raid the national broadcaster over reporting on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan",
          "occurred_on": "2019-06-05",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "AU",
          "country_name": "Australia",
          "continent": "oceania",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 33,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "scott-morrison",
          "leader_name": "Scott Morrison",
          "what_was_done": "Australian Federal Police spent hours searching the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) over its 2017 \"Afghan Files\" reports on alleged killings by Australian special forces that breached the laws of armed conflict, seizing files under a warrant citing the Crimes Act's ban…",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "2020-10-15",
          "outcome_note": "The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decided in October 2020 not to charge journalist Dan Oakes over the Afghan Files reporting.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
          "tactics": [
            "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
            "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-australia-afp-raids-abc-afghan-files"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/secrets_and_espionage_laws?continent=oceania&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/secrets_and_espionage_laws.json?continent=oceania",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/secrets_and_espionage_laws.md?continent=oceania"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}