A free press battle with worldwide ramifications has erupted in London over the right to report on the contents of a book written by a renegade MI6 officer.
The Times of London and its sister paper, the Sunday Times, fought Britain's intelligence service, MI6, in court for the right to publish excerpts of the book, "The Big Breach: From Top Secret to Maximum Security," by Richard Tomlinson, who served a six-month prison term for violating Britain's Official Secrets Act by telling the public details of MI6 activities in a dispute over the British government's refusal to let him appeal being fired by MI6.