Voicemail Hacking Scandal

[patric]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/18/uk.phone.hacking.hoare/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

London (CNN) -- One of the first journalists to go on the record and allege phone hacking at News of the World was found dead Monday, the British Press Association said.

Last week, the Times reported that Sean Hoare, a former show-business reporter for News of the World, described "pinging" by the newspaper. "Pinging" is a term for locating a person using his or her cell phone number -- something that only law enforcement and security officials are allowed to do, the paper reported

Hoare "said that when he worked there, pinging cost the paper nearly $500 on each occasion," the Times reported.

The Times reported that people on the police payroll were bribed to use the technology to pinpoint people's locations, according to the two former News of the World journalists.

[we vs us]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/18/uk.phone.hacking.hoare/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

London (CNN) -- One of the first journalists to go on the record and allege phone hacking at News of the World was found dead Monday, the British Press Association said.

Ooooooo, that's juicy.  I've read that we're also considering charges against News Corp because they phone-hacked some of the 9-11 families.  It's not been clear, though, whether it's News Corp itself, News of the World, Fox News, or who. If true . . . man, watch out.  I'm not so sure the Fox juggernaut could survive.  That's one of the few things that could kill it.

[Townsend]

I'm not so sure the Fox juggernaut could survive.  That's one of the few things that could kill it.

I'm pretty sure they can spin this for their minions.

"It was Obama's fault."

[swake]

The FBI is already looking into the possible hacking of 9/11 victims. In the UK James Murdoch is likely to be arrested soon. The top two cops in the UK have resigned and will likely be arrested. Scotland yard has the names of 3700 people that may have been hacked or tracked in some way by Newscorp. I would say it's likely at this point that the UK forces divestment of some if not all of the Newscorp media properties in the UK. It may well topple Cameron's government. This is a huge deal and it's coming this way.

It's likely, maybe even probable that the UK newspapers spied on Americans which is going to be hugely bad. What would be much worse was if Fox or US based papers like the NY Post did it too. The American and UK papers passed execs and other employees back and forth so it's highly possible that the same kind of behavior was going on here and not just by UK based news outlets.

I don't know what laws and power the FCC has in forcing the sale of the company as it looks like is going to happen in the UK but even without FCC intervention Newscorp may be toast, at least in it's current form. Investors were already unhappy with Newscorp before this. They were really pissed over his buying his daughter's media company in a sweetheart deal worth almost $700 million.

Rupert and his kids only own about 12% of the company. I won't say that Fox/WSJ/NY Post etc. are going to close, that's stupid, but it is likely to not be controlled by Murdock much longer. What that means to Fox is unclear. Fox is more a creature created by Roger Ailes than Rupert Murdoch, Rupert is just the willing owner. If Rupert loses the company it could mean nothing to Fox so long as the company is clean.  Fox is a profitable and valuable property that lots of companies would like to own. But, if FoxNews is involved with this kind of behavior Ailes is also done and Fox as we know it could be done. There have been no accusations against any part of Fox. Yet.

Stay tuned. Even execs with Newscorp say there is much more to come out.

[Teatownclown]

you know it's going to get stranger....some things we just know.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/news-corp-braces-for-legal-trouble-in-the-u-s/?nl=afternoonupdate&emc=aua2

so, let's get on with the show!

[patric]

[quote link=topic=17866.msg205507#msg205507 date=1311017356]

The Times reported that people on the police payroll were bribed to use the technology to pinpoint people's locations, according to the two former News of the World journalists.
[/quote]

Perhaps what's just as alarming is that the "War on Terror" machine can be rented to corporations for as little as $500.   Maybe we can get airport scans of supermodels for the right price?

[Teatownclown]

next two weeks will be interesting!