Publisher security

GCHQ wizards helped prevent Harry Potterbook from leaking online

Back in 2005, the fate of Harry Potter was important enough that GCHQ reportedly stepped in to stop a potential leak of the sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

In a radio interview last week, Nigel Newton of Bloomsbury Publishing spoke about how the publisher had employed strong security measures to prevent possible leaks, including guard dogs and a constant security presence at the printing press. Seemingly, the company also had the support of GCHQ, the UK's primary signals intelligence and surveillance agency.

"We fortunately had many allies," Newton said. "GCHQ rang me up and said, 'We've detected an early copy of this book on the Internet.'"

But as luck would have it, the copy that GCHQ had discovered was a fake: "I got them to read a page to our editor," Newton continued, "and she said, 'No, that's a fake.'"

When asked about Newton's story, a GCHQ spokesperson responded with a rare flash of humanity: "We do not comment on our defence against the Dark Arts."