In your face Murdoch

[Seshmeister]

No it's because the scandal is huge and going to get worse. The editor at the time of most of it was arrested on Friday had become the chief adviser to the British PM. Murdoch's cunt son James has been personally signing bribe checks. The cop in charge of the first investigation into this a few years ago that found nothing was given a big fat job at News International.

There is just a chance this could bring down the whole stinking tower of shit and people of all political persuasions should be dancing in the streets.

[Seshmeister]

Phone hacking: 9/11 victims 'may have had mobiles tapped by News of the World reporters'

by David Collins, Daily Mirror 11/07/2011


DESPERATE Rupert Murdoch yesterday flew to London to try to save his crumbling empire.

He arrived in a cowboy-style hat to be hit by claims News of the World reporters hacked the phones of 9/11 victims.

Murdoch held talks with News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, amid fears nine staff and three cops may face jail.

HIS media empire is crashing around him, he’s just shut down a scandal-hit newspaper and his BSkyB bid is in tatters, but Rupert Murdoch still came out grinning yesterday.

And this cosy picture of him giving his backing to smiling Rebekah Brooks will no doubt infuriate the 200 loyal staff at the defunct News of the World who were sacrificed while she clung to her job.

As Labour leader Ed Miliband vowed to scupper Mr Murdoch’s bid to own all of BSkyB, the News Corp boss seemed to brush off his troubles to joke with the under-fire News International chief executive – who was editor when murdered teenager Milly Dowler’s phone was hacked. Asked what his first priority was, he gestured at Mrs Brooks and said: “This one.”

Mr Murdoch arrived in London yesterday, wearing a Panama hat and clutching a final copy of the News of the World, in a bid to save his crumbling organisation after the phone-hacking scandal saw the 168-year-old paper axed.

But he flew straight into another storm as it was claimed 9/11 victims may have had their mobiles tapped by News of the World reporters. And there was more bad news when it was revealed nine reporters allegedly at the centre of the phone scandal and claims of police corruption could face jail, along with three officers.

After he spent time at News International’s Wapping HQ in East London, 80-year-old Mr Murdoch held crisis talks with Mrs Brooks, 43 - who denies any knowledge of the Milly phone tapping - at his home in Mayfair.

The pair chatted behind closed doors as a former New York cop made the 9/11 hacking claim. He alleged he was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

Now working as a private investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victim’s phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look.

“The investigator said the journalists seemed particularly interested in getting the phone records belonging to the British victims of the attacks.”

The News of the World was shut after 11,000 documents seized from a private investigator revealed the ugly truth behind many of its scoops.

One police source said: “These documents show the hacking was not just one or two attempts at accessing voicemails. More than 4,000 people had their phone hacked. This was hacking on an industrial scale.”

Mr Murdoch’s son James, who is chairman of News International, admitted to approving out of court settlements to hacking victims and misleading Parliament – which he claims was not deliberate.

The fresh tapping claims prompted Mr Miliband to declare war on Mr Murdoch’s bid to control BSkyB.

In his most outspoken attack on the media mogul yet, he said yesterday: “The idea that this organisation, which has engaged in these terrible practices, should be allowed to take over BSkyB... without that criminal investigation having been completed, and on the basis of assurances from that self-same organisation… frankly that won’t wash with the public.”

Labour will table a motion on Wednesday calling on Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to delay signing off the takeover deal until the criminal investigation into the hacking allegations is wrapped up. Lib Dem ministers are thought to be prepared to back the Labour leader.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable are said to be “totally united” against the bid.

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes lent his support yesterday. He said: “I will be suggesting to my colleagues that we as a party, a party that’s never been close to Murdoch, should make clear that we think there should be a postponement of the decision.”

Mr Murdoch also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, 43, was arrested on Friday over phone hacking and police corruption allegations.

Ex-royal editor Clive Goodman, 53, was also held along with a unnamed 63-year-old man. All three were freed on police bail after being quizzed by officers.

Mr Coulson was hired as David Cameron’s press aide, despite warnings to the PM over his possible knowledge of the hacking while at the News of the World.

And last night criticism of Mr Cameron’s judgment grew louder as senior political figures lined up to reveal they had urged him not to take Mr Coulson into government.

Lib Dem Lord Paddy Ashdown and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne claimed they warned the PM after the election - but were ignored.

Mr Huhne said: “Well I raised it with Nick and Nick raised it with the Prime Minister and it was made clear to us that this was a personal appointment to the Prime Minister.

“It wasn’t a Government appointment and therefore we didn’t have any standing to object to it, but it was very clear from what I had said previously that I think there were big reputational risks.

“The Prime Minister has said that he wanted to give Andy Coulson a second chance and that’s very commendable. The reality is that there were very serious risks being run there. We knew with Andy Coulson that anybody in charge of a newspaper needs to know what’s going on and at the very least either Andy Coulson was complicit in criminal acts or, alternatively, he was a very incompetent editor by the standards of Fleet Street.”

Milly Dowler’s parents Sally and Bob and sister Gemma are due to meet Mr Clegg today. They will also see Mr Cameron later in the week, Downing Street has said.


Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/2011/07/11/p...#ixzz1RkQCziU0

[Nitro Express]

What's scary is it seems like you would have to be a big governmental agency to hack into so many different networks. You would have to have the access codes to various networks and systems and the press has this access? How did they get it is what I wonder.

[Seshmeister]

My understanding is that it wasn't that difficult.

What they did was find out the default PIN code for each telephone network so for say AT&T it might be 1234. The networks have a number you could call to pick up your voicemail. The corruption with cops was to get victims cell phone numbers.

Most people don't access their voicemail from another phone so never bothered to change the default PIN. Actually I would have been ok because I did years ago when I was in South America on business and it made sense for me to access it a different way.

Most of this happened a few years ago I think a lot of networks now text you if your voicemail is accessed from another phone.

It's the usual thing of companies being reactive to a security threat rather than proactive.

For example when cell phones first took off they used to be able to listen into other peoples calls from across the road with a basic scanner but they are now scrambled so much more sophisticated devices are needed.

[Seshmeister]

[FORD]

And as usual, the best summary of the entire fucked up situation comes from The Daily Show......

<div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:391535" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-july-11-2011/have-no-fear--england-s-here">The Daily Show - Have No Fear, England's Here</a></b><br/>Get More: <a href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'>Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href='http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow'>The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p></div></div>

[chefcraig]

And as usual, the best summary of the entire fucked up situation comes from The Daily Show......

Saw this last night in real time, and fell out of my chair. John Oliver is freaking brilliant: “That’s right, the guy who got car head from an L.A. road prostitute is now the moral compass of my nation!”

[bueno bob]

I could think of so many wonderful fitting things to have happen to Murdoch. Decency prevents me from repeating, but I do believe you can rent adult movies in the "fetish" section that would give you a good idea of where to start with him.

And that's START - not finish. START.

[FORD]

Keith Olbermann says he was blackmailed by Murdoch and his goons while working for FAUX Sports.....

[Nitro Express]

I did my internship with Herb Allen's investment banking outfit. Herb throws a big media mogul conference every July. Nobody from Fox showed this year. Murdoch or one of his kids usually attends.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/07/08/summer_in_sun_valley_moguls_convene/#

[GreenBayLA]

Where is Olberman banished to these days? local cable access?

[Seshmeister]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/13/phone-hacking-reaches-us

Phone-hacking scandal reaches US

A key US senator has called for an investigation into whether any of News Corporation's organisations in the country have hacked US citizens.

Senate commerce committee chairman Jay Rockefeller has asked the authorities to investigate if any journalists working for Rupert Murdoch had targeted US citizens, and warned of "serious consequences" for the media group if that were the case.

The Democratic senator is the first noteworthy figure in Congress to call for an investigation into the phone-hacking scandal, which on Sunday resulted in the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World after the paper was accused of hacking into the phones of murdered teenager Milly Dowler and the families of British soldiers killed in action, as well as celebrities and politicians.

Murdoch is a major player in the US media landscape, owning the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox News and publisher Harper Collins.

In a written statement, Rockefeller expressed concern that victims of 9/11 and their families could have been targeted by News Corporation journalists, although he did not offer any evidence to suggest that may be the case.

"I encourage the appropriate agencies to investigate to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated," he said.

"The reported hacking by News Corporation newspapers against a range of individuals - including children - is offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics. This raises serious questions about whether the company has broken US law," he said.

The news comes as Murdoch faces further pressure in the UK to abandon his proposed takeover of BSkyB. MPs vote in parliament on Wednesday on an opposition motion that "this House believes that it is in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw its bid for BSkyB", with a further statement expected from the prime minister, David Cameron.

Have you got anyone left over there in the US that could do a major investigation that Murdoch hasn't bought? I heard the New York Times was cut back a lot recently.

[Seshmeister]

I could think of so many wonderful fitting things to have happen to Murdoch. Decency prevents me from repeating, but I do believe you can rent adult movies in the "fetish" section that would give you a good idea of where to start with him.

And that's START - not finish. START.

His son in jail would be a great start. That would maybe need it to spread to the US as I think he is technically a US citizen.

[chefcraig]

Where is Olberman banished to these days? local cable access?

Countdown is now on something called Current TV, way out in the upper fringes of the cable listings. It's part of a tier package that gets you some fairly dubious movie channels (well-worn crap from the seventies and eighties, the junk that ran on independent channels decades ago) and one or two sports offers. Before Olbermann showed up, the channel filled it's broadcast hours with leftover shows from Court tv and documentaries, as well as a handful of movies that played last month on Spike tv. If it came with the basic cable package, fine. But to have to pay extra for it? Not a chance.

[Nitro Express]

Television is a cut throat business. Olbermann's ratings died after Bush was out of office and Rachel Maddow stole his fire. He might have also stepped on the wrong toes and once they had an excuse to get rid of him they did. You have to remember all these networks are owned by a few conglomerartes.