Oui's wording gets it right - this is almost certainly voluntary censorship by the British media in not naming or identifying certain individuals. The usual mechanism is a "D Notice" which is a non-statutory adivisory that non-publication is requested. Similar self-censorship was used in 1936 when the Abdication was almost a complete surprise to the majority of the British public but was well trailled in other countries' media. Of course these days it is impossible to keep a secret as this thread shows. At one stage the book "Spycatcher" was techinically banned by a gagging order in this country but was freely available for purchase on the internet.

It is part of the duty of those who publish on the internet to make public those things that officialdom would rather be kept secret. The only restraint should be not to identify those people whose "outing" would lay them open to personal danger. To take the CIA example, while Valerie Plame might not be in personal danger from exposure, another person under cover in say Pakistan might be killed if exposed. There is therefore some degree of self-censorship required of responsible persons which I think we would agree on.