“This constitutes espionage by the Daily Mail. “
In industrial information gathering, the person with the sensitive information must take “reasonable steps” to protect the information.
So if the information is not “reasonably protected” it is not espionage if I collect it using non-clandestine means. If someone is holding a paper and I see it and photograph it, it’s not espionage because that information was not “reasonably protected.” An envelope will do.
Let’s say I’m signing in somewhere and the receptionist hands me the sign-in book then turns away. I take my camera and photograph the last five pages, to see who has signed in, when, and what company they represent. Not espionage. Now let’s say the receptionist has placed a rubber band around the left side of the booklet, so that I can’t see the filled-in pages without removing the band. If I remove the band and photo the pages, that’ espionage, because he took reasonable precautions against me seeing the pages.
So this target was openly holding readable text in an open place where people with cameras were allowed (including agents of a foreign newspaper), and one of those cameras photographed the open text. Not espionage even if Putin himself snapped the pix.
OK, not technical espionage. But not something a gentleman does. Call me old-fashioned.