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[Phone Hacking In The UK] - An Old Fashioned English Fox Hunt
AngelHedgie
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Registered User regular
So, as you may or may not have heard, the British arm of NewsCorp (a.k.a. the House That Rupert Built) has a itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, little problem at the moment. See, it seems that a few years back, they hacked into some cell phones to get some scoops. Initially, the hacks seemed targeted at celebrities and public officials, similar to the hacking of Paris Hilton's Sidekick a few years back in the US. So while there was some outrage, the public saw it mostly as the price of fame. So what happened?
Well, it came out that they hacked other phones. Such as the phone of a murdered teenage girl. Or the phones of victims of the 7/7 bombings. Or the phones of killed servicemen and their families. Needless to say, this has shifted the public attitude from "them's the breaks" to "WHAT THE FUCK?!?" British PM David Cameron is in a bit of hot water over this as he has ties to two of the key figures in this case - Andy Coulson, one of the editors involved, was Cameron's communitations director until his recent resignation over the scandal; and he has close ties to Rebekah Brooks, the editor in chief of News of the World when the hacking occured and the current head of News International.
Brooks' behavior has been the most questionable. She has asserted that she had no knowledge of the hacking and refuses to step down, ignoring the massive conflict of interest she is causing. Worse, se seems to have the confidence of Rupert himself, which more or less makes her into a British Roger Ailes, as well as affirming that NewsCorp condones unethical and outright ghoulish behavior. However, the blowback has begun - NewsCorp shares are down about 4%, and several major British companies are pulling their ads from NewsCorp properties. And Scotland Yard is preparing to arrest the people involved.
Keith on the scandal
Frankly, I've been wondering when we'd hit Rupert's "Have you no decency" moment. I think we may have just found it.
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The BSkyB deal will probably be approved, if there's enough outrage the CPS may decide to try and prosecute a couple of big names, but it'll be Coulson not Brooks and in fact would probably just end up being small time journalists or PIs that are investigated, and in a couple of months everything will just be brushed under the carpet.
I really wish this wasn't the case, but I'm just not sure that the powers that be are going to be brave enough to piss off Murdoch and NI.
That's what bothers me about it as well. There are already reports that the police have been hesitant to go after NewsCorp in the past out of fear of retaliation.
I think the issue was that the initial reports were about public figures getting hacked, so there was a sense of "comes with the territory". Now that regular Britons were targeted, the mood has shifted considerably.
- Ford
- Mitsibushi
- The Co-Operative Group
- Vauxhall
- Lloyds Banking Group
- Virgin Holidays
- Bulmers (Cider, the Irish version of the paper)
At the moment it seems to be just this Sunday's edition of the paper they're boycotting, but they're monitoring the situation closely, so it has the potential to go further.
As BobCesca has pointed out, my biggest concern over this is that the designated fall guy Andy Coulson will make an interesting enough splat to divert attention from the higher ups. I'm surprised he hasn't hit back or tried to deflect attention from himself.
There is another element to this as well: News International is in a controversial process to buy out BSkyB, the Satellite TV company they already own 39% in. It was looking like it was going to be allowed by the Government despite fears of a "Media Pluarity", basically that too many TV channels are owned by a single entity, reducing the diversity of choice. These allegations have renewed calls for at very least the purchase to be suspended if not outright forbidden.
It's good that this is putting the spotlight on the fact that David Cameron is far too close to a media CEO as well.
This is also great timing for the Australian government which just stepped in to block a Murdoch company from taking over an Australian international channel, the government was facing criticism for that decision, which is now evaporating.
You think the British government (Prime Minister: David Cameron) will take sanctions agaisnt a news paper run by News International (Chief Executive: Rebekah Brooks)? I'm sure this turn of events will be discussed at the next private dinner party held by Rebekah Brooks and her guests, which will include her neighbour and close friend David Cameron.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2011/jul/06/rebekah-brooks-email
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You also missed out possible rape victim from that list. The full confirmed list is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/sep/10/phone-hacking-victims-list
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Why the former head of the Crown Prosecution service, the body which knew the full extent of the phone hacking allegations but did not exapand the prosecution beyond the initial royal hacking allegations.
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It's not just it being regular Britons being targetted that's angering people; it's the fact they're being targetted when they're at their most vunerable (look at the list of people who have been confirmed as being hacked).
Anyway, as someone else has said, you can't help but feel nothing is ultimately going to happen.
One guy is going to get all the blame, when we all know everyone was in on it, people will start buying the News of the World in a week or two's time, the takeover that should be stopped will still go through and the police will do FA.
What is the point in the PCC? Their defense as to why this happened on this watch is basically "well we asked last time if this was going on elsewhere, and we were told no" in addition to ignoring others saying it was rife.
You want to know why this has all suddenly broken out now; why News crop is "suddenly" able to provide a whole bunch of evidence, but these questions aren't going to get answer.
And the Police; I'm going to assume the public have yet to pick up on this because there isn't nearly enough anger directed at them yet, but in addition to doing nothing last time, it looks like they had some guys in on it, selling confidential details.
In an ideal world, you'd hope the Met would realise how badly they look in all of this, and they'd get off their arses and do something.
However, if we get more than 2 arrests, and 2 inquiries (serious stuff) saying we should learn from this, I'd be amazed, which only adds more anger.
“systemic abuse of almost unprecedented power"..
“There is nothing noble in what these newspapers have been doing,” he said. “Rupert Murdoch is clearly a very, very talented businessman — he’s possibly even a genius — but his organisation has grown too powerful and has abused that power. It has systematically corrupted the police and in my view has gelded this Parliament, to our shame.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1AJjnl2y8U
So that was a rare moment of truth in amongst the lies and the lying liars who tell them:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/06/murdoch-executive-phone-hacking-denials
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
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I would say let's get Interpol going and see just how rotten News Corp really is, because you can't trust anything coming out of any of his companies.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
I'd be happy if the Sun and the News of the World fell off a cliff tomorrow, though.
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The Times has gone downhill ever since Murdoch bought it.
I'd have ranked it higher than the red tops and the Daily Mail, but then, that's not saying alot now (while it's understandable how little they're reporting on this phone hacking, that doesn't make it right).
What odious little creatures News corp is filled with. Corruption, suborning police for decades, pulling the strings of political life since Thatcher. the word that comes to mind is horrid.
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
I think the leader of the Labour party pointed out the most scummy aspect of that: That their defence rested on the idea that one can legally pay a police officer for information, no scum bags that's illegal and is called suborning a officer of the law.
Why was she and her organisation not prosecuted in 2003 (rhetorical Murdoch has his fingers in so deep)
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
The bribes were made to officers in "sensitive" positions in return for confidential information. Sources say several "high-profile" NoW staff and the officers concerned are likely to be arrested within days and that "serious crimes" have been committed.
[...]
But the extent of corruption involving Scotland Yard and the paper is among the most damaging revelations so far. The Standard has been told that unlawful payments to police have been made over several years. "They were very large sums, coming to more than six figures," said the source.
"They were running a criminal enterprise at the News of the World. Serious crimes have been found. The question now is about the scalps. There will be high-profile arrests at the paper."
The corrupt payments were discovered after News International began a trawl of internal emails earlier this year in a bid to discover the full extent of the paper's involvement in hacking.
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-live-coverage
Reading it in the seventies, were you?
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If Rebekah Brooks can't be made to resign because Rupert Murdoch says 'no', then it just proves how powerful Rupert Murdoch has become.
Sounds like you're implying that allowing them to expand their media empire even further might not be such a smart move. You looking to get black-bagged, son?
Up until now, no one of any real power has taken him on. The Indy had something about throwing off his influence at the last election and his son and Brooks promptly turned up on its doorstep and went full tilt hatstand mental at the Indy's editor. Talking heads on TV and so forth might tut about his influence is a bad thing, but nothing ever really happens to challenge him or those close to him.
It would be great if this took a large number of his coterie down, and diminished the extent to which those in power bow and scrape to him, but that result depends on continued public outrage and actual consequences that hurt him, like the advertisers pulling out. We'll see. I'm certain that he's not going to do anything he doesn't want to like fire Brooks without someone twisting his arm way up behind his back.
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We have had our meeting, and have concluded that it is best if we just sit this one out. The private lives of celebrities aren't worth getting upset about.
But it's a massive, illegal breach of privacy!
Go home and leave me be! This is not worth getting upset about!
Ooh ooh, I've got one, they've been hacking the phones of regular people too!
Say what?
That's right, and dead people! Lots of dead people! Look!
Oh you son of a bitch!
Linky.
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i wish the retribution to go all the way to the top but you know its going to stop short of touching the people that are really responsible.
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