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i guess the left cares about this a lot more than i do.

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This is a big deal in the UK not only due to the crime, but how News Corp was able to leverage its influence to protect its self during the initial inquiries.  Its relevance in over here is that News Corp has just as much political influence in the US.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:
This is a big deal in the UK not only due to the crime, but how News Corp was able to leverage its influence to protect its self during the initial inquiries.  Its relevance in over here is that News Corp has just as much political influence in the US.

i dunno, i guess if there was anything connecting this to the whole of news corp, then maybe it would be a bigger deal to me.

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Gordon Brown 'targeted by Sunday Times'
BBC News

The Sunday Times is alleged to have illegally targeted the personal information of Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, the BBC has found.

Documents and a phone recording suggest "blagging" was used to obtain private financial and property details.

The Browns also fear medical records relating to their son Fraser, whom the Sun revealed in 2006 had cystic fibrosis, may have been obtained.

News International said it would investigate the claims.

In a statement, the company said: "We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown. So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us."

The company, a subsidiary of News Corporation, owns the Sun and the Sunday Times, and also owned the News of the World which was shut last week amid allegations of phone-hacking and illegal payments to police officers.

Addressing MPs in the the Commons, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt described blagging as an "awful" practice and said the judge-led inquiry into phone-hacking would look at all illegal methods newspapers may have used in the past to obtain information.

The latest allegations relate to personal details it is claimed were obtained for a front-page Sunday Times report that Mr Brown, who later became prime minister, had purchased a flat owned by Robert Maxwell at a "knock-down price".

Blagging, or "knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data or information without the consent of the data controller" has been illegal since 1994.

'Deception scheme'

The blagging reports concern alleged attempts by someone said to be acting for the Sunday Times who posed as Mr Brown and obtained details of his Abbey National account in January 2000.

It was discovered by the building society's fraud department which alleged someone successfully called their Bradford call centre six times pretending to be Brown and were given information.

In letters obtained by the BBC, the Abbey National wrote to Sunday Times editor John Witherow concluding it had suspicions that "someone from the Sunday Times or acting on its behalf has masqueraded as Mr Brown for the purpose of obtaining information from Abbey National by deception."

The Abbey National said to Mr Brown's lawyer it was a "well-orchestrated scheme of deception".

Abbey National has not been able to identify the blagger, and did accept in a letter to Mr Brown it did not have conclusive evidence.

However, the Guardian journalist Nick Davies has alleged a former actor John Ford carried out specialised blagging from banks during this period for the Sunday Times. This allegation is detailed in his book Flat Earth News.

On the reports on Fraser Brown having cystic fibrosis, the Brown family believe only medical staff treating their son had access to the records, and are worried they may have been accessed illegally.

A well-placed source has told the BBC that in 2006 when she was editor of the Sun, Rebekah Brooks called the Browns to inform them she knew that their son Fraser had the condition.

Friends of the Browns say the call caused them immense distress, since they were only coming to terms with the diagnosis, which had not been confirmed.

It has also emerged that Scotland Yard wrote to Mr Brown and his wife Sarah warning them that their personal details have been found in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for six months in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal aides.

This contradicts advice given to Mr Brown last year.

More criminality from a News Corp outlet in the UK.  Note Ms. Brooks presence here as well (she's currently head of News Corp UK branch and has the stated support of Rupert Murdoch).

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News Corp just announced in the wake of all this controversy they are not going to pursue the take over of British Sky Broadcasting.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:
News Corp just announced in the wake of all this controversy they are not going to pursue the take over of British Sky Broadcasting.

and have been asked not to.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:

and have been asked not to.

I think it was that they dropped it before they were told to drop it....

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:


i dunno, i guess if there was anything connecting this to the whole of news corp, then maybe it would be a bigger deal to me.

Like is?

GOPer wants FBI probe of Rupert Murdoch

New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal “disgraceful.”

“As I see it, I would expect more things to be coming out over the next several weeks,” King told POLITICO. “And as we approach 9/11, the tenth anniversary, it’s even going to get worse.”

King said in the letter, addressed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, that the journalists should face felony charges if the allegations are proven true.

“It is revolting to imagine that members of the media would seek to compromise the integrity of a public official for financial gain in the pursuit of yellow journalism,” wrote King, who is also chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

A number of Democratic senators are also calling for inquiries into the scandal. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, asked for an investigation on Tuesday into whether American phones were hacked by News Corp. reporters. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) says she supports Rockefeller. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J) wants authorities to look into allegations that News of the World reporters bribed London police for information about the British royal family.

The Daily Mirror in London reported that News of the World journalists tried to get phone data involving the victims of the terror attacks.

“It is horrifying to consider the possibility that the victims of the 9/11 tragedy would be victimized again by an international newspaper seeking information about their personal suffering,” Menendez wrote in his letter.

In his letter, Lautenberg expressed “deep concerns” about the bribery accusations, noting that if true, that could violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars a U.S. company from paying foreign officials in exchange for business.

Even if the reporters were stationed in England, Lautenberg noted that News Corporation itself, since it’s based in the United States, would be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

“The limited information already reported in this case raises serious questions about the legality of the conduct of News Corporation and its subsidiaries under the FCPA,” Lautenberg writes in the two-page letter sent to the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Further investigation may reveal that current reports only scratch the surface of the problem at News Corporation.”

Lautenberg also said he was concerned about the allegations involving the phone-hacking of Sept. 11 victims, calling it “troubling.”

News Corp. declined to comment on the senators’ calls.

And this is a republican senator calling for this, so you can't blame the left for this one.... :-P

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Yeah, but that Republican is a joke.  Peter King seems to be trying to set himself up as the next McCarthy, the only problem is that the American people are not as easily tricked as they were in the 50's.

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FBI to open 9/11 victims 'phone-hacking' investigation
BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14162545

The criminal probe follow calls from a growing number of senators and a senior Republican congressman for an investigation.

An FBI official told the BBC reports of an investigation were "credible".

Meanwhile, Mr Murdoch and his son James have agreed to answer UK MPs' questions on the hacking scandal next week.

'Appropriate action'

The Commons media committee issued summonses after the pair initially declined to appear.

Also in London on Thursday, Neil Wallis, a former News of the World executive editor, became the ninth person involved with the newspaper to be detained by police probing phone hacking.

The Murdoch-owned Sunday tabloid was shut down last week amid the mounting scandal over the alleged hacking of phones belonging to crime victims, politicians and celebrities.

A spokeswoman for the US justice department, which oversees the FBI, declined to comment on the developments in Washington.

"The department does not comment specifically on investigations, though anytime we see evidence of wrongdoing, we take appropriate action," Tracy Schmaler told the BBC.

News Corporation, based in New York, is the parent company of News International, the UK firm at the centre of a growing scandal over phone hacking and payments to police officers.

News International has already closed tabloid newspaper the News of the World and pulled out of a huge takeover bid for the UK's largest pay-TV operator, BSkyB.

In addition, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has set up a judge-led inquiry into the allegations.

In Washington, senators this week asked authorities in the US to investigate amid allegations that the phones of victims of the September 11 attacks may have been hacked into by News of the World journalists. News International has not commented on the claims.

'Exploited'

Democratic senators Jay Rockefeller and Barbara Boxer urged the attorney general and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether US laws had been broken.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who wrote to the attorney general separately, said claims that newspapers had sought to "exploit information about... personal tragedies for profit" needed to be investigated.

Republican Congressman Peter King - who is chairman of the House homeland security committee and represents a constituency in New York that lost more then 150 people in the 9/11 attacks - called on Wednesday for an FBI inquiry.

"The thought that anyone would have hacked into the phones of either those who were killed, those who were missing, the family members, during that tragic time... is contemptible," he said on Thursday.

He declined to say whether he had any direct evidence journalists working for News Corporation companies had sought to hack 9/11 victims' phones.

"There were allegations, I want the FBI to investigate them, I'm not making any conclusions at all," he said.

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you know, fox news needs to be disbanded too, right ;p

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
you know, fox news needs to be disbanded too, right ;p

Nah, if Fox goes, who else are the "liberal lamestream media" going to be giving out about? :-P

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Originally Posted by Kieran Colfer:

Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
you know, fox news needs to be disbanded too, right ;p

Nah, if Fox goes, who else are the "liberal lamestream media" going to be giving out about? :-P

they enjoyed their monopoly, and utterly despise fnc for breaking that monopoly.

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Damn, I lost my post!     I said, "It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.  I doubt Fox News will be effected, but it has come out that Roger Ayles (sp) had actually approached Richard Nixon about using media to spread republican ideal.  (Don't forget, in those days, the republican party was much different than it is today)  Also, I read that Murdoch bought myspace seveal yrs ago for big $ not counting on FB.  Sold it last month for much less that he paid for it.  So, with new owners, maybe we can get them to bring our groups back.  Damn, I miss them!

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yeah, facebook gobbles up posts sometimes. as for myspace, i think that's officially gone the way of the dodo.