To the list of industries undermined by the Internet, from music to the Yellow Pages, we can add another: diplomacy. By all appearances, the early release of the Libyan convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland was part of a program of quiet diplomacy by the British government to appeal to Moammar Gadhafi. This favor turned out to be anything but quiet.

The freeing of the Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, is a case study in how people now expect a free and instant flow of information about what their politicians have done and how hard it has become to keep secret deals secret.

The release of the bomber was announced by the Scottish minister of justice as an act of compassion, citing Megrahi's prostate cancer. But other murderers have been ill and died in Scottish prisons. Suspicions grew with the leak of a letter from the Foreign Office in London that had assured the justice minister there was no legal barrier to Megrahi's early release. The letter expressed the "hope on this basis you will now feel able to consider the Libyan application." The "judicial" decision was exposed as political.

Under further pressure, Downing Street released a letter Prime Minister Brown had sent Gadhafi urging a low-key welcome for the state intelligence officer who killed 270 people, mostly Americans. A "high-profile return would cause further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims," the letter said. It also said, "You will be aware that the Scottish executive's public announcement on Megrahi's future is expected very shortly. I understand that their decision is to transfer Megrahi back to Libya on compassionate grounds," contradicting earlier claims that the decision was known only when the Scottish minister announced it.