|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/18/2010
Posts: 1,197
Points: 3,275
Location: United Kingdom
|
The Murdoch Mess creeps it's dirty way slowly over the world
From the New Statesman today:
"Another journalist has been arrested as part of the investigation into phone-hacking at News of the World.
James Desborough, who was named showbiz writer of the year at the 2009 British Press Awards, was taken into custody this morning as part of the ongoing Operation Weeting.
Desborough started working for News of the World in 2005, moving to Los Angeles in 2009 to edit the US edition of the title, where he gained a reputation for his ability to uncover sensitive information.
Press Gazette reported in 2009 that Desborough "was recognised for stories about Fern Britten's gastric band, Peaches Geldof's divorce and Heather McCartney which were all published in the face of strong official denials."
Desborough is the 13th person to be arrested as part of Operation Weeting. His arrest comes the day after a letter by Clive Goodman, the former royal editor at News of the World who was jailed in 2007 for his part in the phone-hacking scandal, was released, revealing that knowledge of illegal activity at the tabloid was more widespread than was first thought. The letter has cast suspicion on claims made by James Murdoch and others to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in connection with hacking.
His arrest will raise questions about whether sections of the US media are implicated in the hacking scandal.
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 5/27/2011
Posts: 5,234
Points: 15,466
Location: Germany
|
Phone Hacking comes to US
I'm not quite sure whether to laugh or to cry at this.
Phone Hacking has been going on since the 1920s in the USA - and elsewhere.
It was called 'wire tapping' at the time. I think J.Edgar Hoover and the FBI introduced the procedure.
And I believe that 'wire-tapping', 'bugging' and 'phone hacking' has been conducted not only by official agencies for some time now.
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/18/2010
Posts: 1,197
Points: 3,275
Location: United Kingdom
|
IMcRout wrote:Phone Hacking comes to US
I'm not quite sure whether to laugh or to cry at this.
Phone Hacking has been going on since the 1920s in the USA - and elsewhere.
It was called 'wire tapping' at the time. I think J.Edgar Hoover and the FBI introduced the procedure.
And I believe that 'wire-tapping', 'bugging' and 'phone hacking' has been conducted not only by official agencies for some time now. I think "official" wire tapping is probably endemic. In the UK one is supposed to get a court order to tap a phone, but I do have my doubts. But if Murdoch's crew have taken their naughty tactics to the US from the UK, it has implications.
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/18/2010
Posts: 1,197
Points: 3,275
Location: United Kingdom
|
I notice I have somehow posted this in R & P when it should be either Politics where we have discussed Murdoch an Fox News, or in K & C where we have discussed the News of the World. I'll leave it to mods......
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/21/2009
Posts: 19,780
Points: 59,346
Location: Helsinki, Finland
|
All the communication done using electronic means can be traced and hacked. If you want a better place for this thread, Intelfam, why not S&T?
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/18/2010
Posts: 1,197
Points: 3,275
Location: United Kingdom
|
I was aware there was some talk of 9/11 hackings, but did not know there is now an official investigation, but Agence France-Presse carried the following:
"
DOJ Investigating Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for Alleged 9/11 Phone Hacking
US authorities have launched a probe into possible phone hacking of September 11, 2001 victims by News Corp. journalists, victims' relatives have been told, according to a Justice Department official.
During a 75-minute "initial" meeting with about 10 people whose relatives died during the terrorist attacks in New York, US Attorney General Eric Holder "broke protocol by acknowledging there is an investigation," said an attorney for the victims' families, Norman Siegel.
Holder "listened to their questions, told them the department was taking the allegations seriously, that the allegations were disturbing," said the Justice Department official who confirmed a probe into the affair was running and was in a "preliminary stage."
The official asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about an active investigation.
"Hopefully the allegations turn out to be not true because if it's true, it's only more pain for 9/11 families," said Siegel.
"If it happens to be true... the allegation is illegal both criminally and civilly... (which brings) up to 5 years of prison and punitive damages," he added.
Siegel said the families are not accusing News Corp. of "any wrongdoing," but he added it is "logical" to ask about what happened in the United States after revelations that reporters from the media group hacked into phones in Britain.
Diane Horning, whose son was killed in the attacks said even an unsuccessful attempt to hack into the phones should be punished.
"The attempt to invade this privacy is reprehensible and will be treated even if this attempt was not successful," said Horning.
News Corp. has been shaken up by a phone hacking and corruption scandal in Britain that erupted into a full-blown crisis for the Rupert Murdoch's media empire in July and caused the media titan to close their Sunday tabloid News of the World."
Sourced from Agence France-Presse
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 10/2/2009
Posts: 1,542
Points: 4,693
Location: United States
|
It certainly looks like Murdoch has been running wild for a long time, trampling over people's rights, blackmailing, bribing and extorting members of the police, politicians and private citizens whenever it suits his purpose. His testimony in the UK last month was sickeningly self-serving and rife with his personal brand of--I'd say pathologically narcissistic--rationalizations for his own behavior, all the while denying any actual responsibility for it.
I've been convinced this guy is an enemy of mankind for a long time. Not in the nasty, obvious sense, but in the banality of evil sort of way. Hopefully, his corporation will be broken up, he'll be relegated to his proper place as a right-wing propagandist and the democracies that he's been manipulating can get back to their "normal" level of nonsensical, political bickering.... (For that to happen, one or two other media empires might have to be split up, but that's another topic.)
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 2,424
Points: 7,126
Location: China
|
I've been watching, privately aghast, the doings of both the Murdoch and the Packer empires for years now. I find it a sad reflection that such 'empires' are not just able to grow and take the stranglehold they have done, but that the lack of let or hindrance - which speaks of complicity on so many levels - has continued to this point.
I too, would like to think Packer himself would be "relegated to his proper place" and that areas of manipulation can "get back to their "normal" levels. But I think that is, perhaps, rather naive.
The fact that Murdoch has finally been called to book over this one particular incident does not negate the fact that he and Packer between them have changed the game forever. The days of the small, independent newspaper or media outlets have been relegated to history as surely as the ancient printing presses once used to manually churn out the news have been.
Now that it has been seen exactly how the most powerful tool in our arsenal - the media - can be manipulated, there is no turning back. Our silence-as-consent has also sealed our fate, I think.
It is not a new thought that absolute power derives from a centralised way of controlling what the population thinks, accepts or fights for - everyone from the Romans, through Lenin and down to Orwell has played about with this concept.
We may be glad that Murdoch is being made to answer finally for some of his actions - but all it really means, I think, is that pains will be taken that this particular pitfall will be overcome next time round. By whoever.
Even the way the whole issue is being treated - the narrow focus on a certain group of 'victims', rather than a huge outcry, exposition and public sharing of the extent of all the manipulations that have brought us to this point - speaks of continued control.
The fact that the only ramifications of the Packer machinations over the decades that people are encouraged to explore is the one of phone tapping shows, I think, that "the person in the street" is still having their reactions constrained.
(PS - JJ -you say you didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the topic heading? You're a better man than I, for I took one look and involuntarily broke into a rather unladylike burst of snorting!)
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 10/21/2009
Posts: 1,447
Points: 4,336
Location: Pakistan
|
Is that really that wiered? This 'phone hacking' has been a small part of the global spy practices. Isn't it, or it's an other issue?
*It's wonderful to know that all languages are Greek if not understood.*
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/21/2009
Posts: 19,780
Points: 59,346
Location: Helsinki, Finland
|
Jeech wrote:Is that really that wiered? This 'phone hacking' has been a small part of the global spy practices. Isn't it, or it's an other issue? All that is wired is weird?
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 10/2/2009
Posts: 1,542
Points: 4,693
Location: United States
|
Jeech wrote:Is that really that wiered? This 'phone hacking' has been a small part of the global spy practices. Isn't it, or it's an other issue? Well, there are definitely monitoring systems in place that attend to various uses of key words and phrases, and politicians have long needed to use different methods to communicate than other folks, I don't think that the phone hacking scandal can just be discounted as just a small part of normal spying practices. First off, Murdoch is not a spying agency. The media enjoys certain special privaledges in most countries, but those privaledges don't include stealing information, breaking into the accounts of citizens or copying their medical records. Even government agencies need special permission, and have to show cause for that kind of thing. The other problem, of course, is what they've done with the information they've illegally stolen. There are plenty of cases on record of them using that info to blackmail people, intimidate police and politicians, even go after those who have publically called them to task. That's a much bigger deal. An independent journalistic industry is not above the law. They don't get to run around stealing information any more than an identity thief does. The privacy of medical records is the kind of thing doctors can lose their licenses over, or their patients can sue them out of business. There's no reason why the media shouldn't be held to the same standard when it comes to stealing information and using that information illegally that any other industry or private citizen would be.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 10/2/2009
Posts: 1,542
Points: 4,693
Location: United States
|
Jyrkkä Jätkä wrote:Jeech wrote:Is that really that wiered? This 'phone hacking' has been a small part of the global spy practices. Isn't it, or it's an other issue? All that is wired is weird? It's a Freudian typo. Weird that they've wired so many phones....
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/21/2009
Posts: 19,780
Points: 59,346
Location: Helsinki, Finland
|
Romany wrote:0
(PS - JJ -you say you didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the topic heading? You're a better man than I, for I took one look and involuntarily broke into a rather unladylike burst of snorting!) Where did I say THAT?
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 2,424
Points: 7,126
Location: China
|
Ah, sorry, JJ. You didn't say it at all, did you? It was Bochy. Sorry 'bout that.
|
|
|
Guest |