"You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back," Rusbridger quoted a senior British official, whom he did not name, as telling him.
Rusbridger said he opted to destroy computers containing the data about widespread and secret surveillance in order to continue reporting on the issue, rather than being drawn into a legal battle that the Guardian would be unable to report.
Copies of the Snowden data are already in the hands of the Guardian's American operation, where reporting on the National Security Agency and the British surveillance agency GCHQ will continue.