What role did Sarbanes-Oxley have in the Plamegate affair? Plenty, according to an interesting piece in Reason. Time surrendered the magazine's notes to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald after Fitzgerald went after Time Inc as a corporation. Writer John Berlau argues that SOX contains provisions that would affect the use and protection of anonymous sources, citing Section 802 which punishes anyone who "knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States".

Whether the spirit of corporate law would apply to a journalist protecting sources remains to be seen. Still, it's a worrying thought at a time when the press is under attack for doing its job from an administration that brooks no criticism. Certainly, it could be another piece of evidence suggesting that the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley is far wider than first envisaged.