Section 170(3)

It is also a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that— the person acted in the reasonable belief that the person had a legal right to do the obtaining, disclosing, procuring or retaining, the person acted in the reasonable belief that the person would have had the consent of the controller if the controller had known about the obtaining, disclosing, procuring or retaining and the circumstances of it, or the person acted— for the special purposes, with a view to the publication by a person of any journalistic, academic, artistic or literary material, and in the reasonable belief that in the particular circumstances the obtaining, disclosing, procuring or retaining was justified as being in the public interest.

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Source: legislation.gov.uk · retrieved 2026-09-04