But as it turns out, they were not. So much for academic freedom it seems - it all depends on the judge now. Now of course its obvious why the UK would want those, no questions asked there. However, digging in old wounds may not be the best idea right now. The entire world is up to the neck right now, last thing the UK needs is to poke the IRA in the eye with a pig sticker. Even if the interviews remain confidential, as the article pointed out, this rather interesting experiment at live history will die out with it. The very fact that an attempt was made to seize those interviews, means no one will risk doing them again.