This morning, lawyers at
Times Newspapers took a step to limit Greenwald's criticism, sending a notice telling The Intercept that Greenwald's story, which included a low-res image of the
Times' front page, violates their copyright. The Intercept quickly
published the takedown notice, and on Twitter Greenwald
made clear that his publication won't be deleting his copy of the
Times' "humiliating headline."
(guess they don't want he story out there too much now, what about all that free press

)
The relevant portions of the copyright letter, from the legal department of Times Newspapers, reads:
We write on behalf of Times Newspapers Limited (TNL) the publisher of The Times and The Sunday Times. TNL owns the copyright in the typographical arrangement of the front page of The Sunday Times published on 14 June 2015 (Material). The Material is an original work created by employees of TNL. A copy of the Material is enclosed.
A copy of the Material appears at [link] under the headline: SUNDAY SNOWDEN STORY IS JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST—AND FILLED WITH FALSEHOODS (Infringing Content). The Infringing Content has been reproduced, communicated to the public and published onto the Website without permission and as such infringes the intellectual property rights of TNL. A copy of the Infringing Content is enclosed.
The "infringing" picture of
The Sunday Times' front page, reproduced in part, above, doesn't have sufficient resolution to allow the article to be read. And Greenwald didn't reproduce the
Times story in full, although considering how much he had to say about the piece, doing so would likely be well within his rights.
The
Sunday Times legal department didn't respond to Ars' request for comment on the DMCA notice.
Errors and omissions
The Times' behavior since publication has become a perfect example of why outside criticism and fact-checking are so necessary. (indeed

)The article's most glaring error, a statement that Greenwald's partner David Miranda visited Snowden in Moscow, was
deleted without any notice. A
Times spokesperson promised there will be a correction in this Sunday's edition.
Critics have pointed to numerous inconsistencies in the
Sunday Times piece, including the fact that the piece misuses the terms "agents" and "officers," which have specific meanings in the context of British intelligence.
The story asserts that it isn't clear "whether Russia and China stole Snowden’s data, or whether he voluntarily handed over his secret documents." Of course, if Snowden handed over the documents willingly, it isn't clear why they would need to be "cracked" by foreign governments in the first place. Further, Snowden and the journalists working with him have stated he kept no files after handing them to journalists in Hong Kong.
The quote suggesting Snowden has "blood on his hands" is immediately followed by a statement noting that there was "no evidence of anyone being harmed." (that makes sense
)
Other critics have suggested that the story's timing is no coincidence, having come just days after a 373-page report was published in the UK critical of the nation's terrorism laws. The report's author, David Anderson, called the current system "undemocratic, unnecessary, and in the long run, intolerable."
Carl Sagan famously said "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." Journalism isn't exempt. The
Times has published a story that's evidence-free and raises questions about the practice of using anonymous sources as the sole foundation of reporting. Greenwald has lambasted the story as "pure stenography," a critique that the story's authors have not rebutted.