back to article FBI probes claims of Murdoch 9/11 hack

The FBI is reported to be examining allegations that staff at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp tried to access the mobile phones of 9/11 terrorist-attack victims and their relatives. A spokesperson for the law-enforcement agency in New York told Reuters: "We are aware of the allegations and are looking into it." The probe has …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No Country for Old Men

    I said in the comments of another article that I'd heard what was going on in the UK is only the start, and a lot more is to come out in other countries, including the US.

    Rupert Murdoch was trusted with an empire but his time is coming to an end, and no one has the same faith in those who stand to take over. So those who have allowed Murdoch to peddle his wares over the years are now forcibly reducing his empire in a controlled manner, before it all falls into the wrong hands and ends messily.

    Can you imagine if a dodgy Chinese or Russian oligarch ended up buying the corporation and with that gained information about all the dodgy goings on over the years within the various Murdoch outlets, lists of contacts and hidden dirt?

    You can be sure TPTB would rather the right kind of old school ties took over to sit comfortably on all the dirty secrets and established information networks/contacts/methods, even if they do a lousy job, rather than letting it all get into the wrong hands.

    1. Number6

      Law of Reciprocity

      One big advance, not only in the media field, would be to impose a requirement that before a citizen of another country is allowed to buy or control a UK business, it should be possible for a UK citizen to buy or control a similar business in that other country. This would screw Murdoch quite well, given the US restrictions on media ownership, and quite effectively break up his news empire.

  2. Arctic fox
    Flame

    Oh dear, oh dear.

    If this is true, the Dirty Digger may indeed be facing the last round-up. The reaction of the American public and Congress if it is in fact proved that they attempted to "hack" the phones of 9/11 victim's families can readily be imagined. IE They will go completely berserk. Best of all he is an American citizen - boy oh boy, is NI now in trouble or what. This whole business on our side of the pond has already attracted a lot of notice "over there" and the effects may be catastrophic for that fine upstanding company - could not happen to a nicer bunch.

    1. Mako

      Couldn't agree more.

      And while it would be disgusting to find that they'd actually done this, (though not particularly surprising), I really hope they were stupid enough to do so. There'll be a groundswell of rage so powerful that Rebekah Brooks will feel it in London through the heels of her Louboutins.

      As for NI: Kick it. Kick it 'til it BREAKS.

      1. Arctic fox
        Thumb Up

        @Mako RE "Couldn't agree more".

        Indeed. What we have seen revealed demonstrates that they had/have *exactly* the necessary poisonous blend of stupidity, arrogance and self-justifying hypocrisy to be capable of it. If it does turn out to be the case I think it is highly likely that the US will go after NI with almost as much eagerness as they went after Bin Laden. Though perhaps not in *quite* the same way - although we can always wish, can't we?!

        1. Captain TickTock
          Joke

          Going after Rubert..

          He was found in his secret hideout with stacks of old copies of The Sun

          1. Naughtyhorse

            i was thinking....

            maybe his car will crash into a paywall

  3. Winkypop Silver badge
    Mushroom

    News Internationals problems are....

    .... way better reading than any of the stuff their rags ever put out.

    Popcorn...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Way better,,,,,

      For the first time in my life I'm interested in the tabloids.

  4. Nigel Brown
    Stop

    Lets just have a quick sniff of the old java beans eh

    and remember that the Mirror isn't exactly fond of the Murdoch empire. Points scoring and trouble making are clouding the truth of what's happened.

    1. Paul Johnston

      Yes not exactly impartial

      But it does make you think the Mirror thinks it's clean otherwise why "go to the mattresses"?

    2. Elmer Phud
      Headmaster

      A bit quick?

      It's not just the Mirror that's reporting it.

      The Mirror - in the Reg article - is claiming a private dick was hired.

      Everywhere else is reporting the FBI are to investigate.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      Let them who are without sin

      ..but of course IS whiter than white in it's own journalistic standards.

      Whilst I'm please to see NI get some of what it deserves, it does worry me that the focus on them is maybe shining the spotlight away from what I'm sure are endemic practices throughout tabloid journalism. Do we really believe *ONLY* NotW reporters got up to this sort of stuff..??

      1. John Bailey
        WTF?

        And when somethoing hits the fan, everybody gets dirty.

        So because we can't get all offenders at once, we must get none eh?

        Sounds suspiciously like "FOR GOD'S SAKE.. DO NOTHING"..

        Of course the other tabloids at the very least, are not blameless. And I'm sure the more "reputable" rags are not much better. But the objective is to gather proof, and prosecute the ones that have been found guilty. Not to end journalistic corruption in one fell swoop.

  5. Mr Larrington
    FAIL

    Please...

    ...let it be true. Then when I go on my holibobs, and spend much time in a motel where the lobby TV is permanently tuned to Faux News, I can put a Post-It on same, reading "Don't say we didn't warn you".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fox.

      A good look at Fox News and Glen Beck in particular should have told us all we needed to know about the way NI operates.

  6. Ralthor
    Joke

    Is the world enough?

    These governements better not piss him off too much or he may just say bugger them all and roll out the big black super nuclear stealth destroyer and take over the world. If that does happen lets just hope he decides the world is enough.

    I for one will welc.......

    1. laird cummings
      Devil

      Don't you mean...

      "Tomorrow Never Dies..?"

      Elliot Carver lives!

  7. IDoNotThinkSo
    Stop

    Careful

    Various parties have interests in kicking NI, and we haven't seen much actual evidence yet (other than the Millie Dowler case, which is bad enough). Collecting numbers isn't evidence that they were hacked.

    I see our former PM's rant has lead to a Guardian apology, now its clear no medical records were hacked:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/series/correctionsandclarifications

    If they _have_ hacked 9/11 phones, though, I expect the US will nuke NI from space, just to make sure.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Nothing clear about this

      The sun have an affidavit from some anonymous guy who heard the story 'on the grapevine"

      Loads of room for *someone* to have illegally accessed medical records / overhead a conversation / whatever in there...

  8. Cihatari
    Pint

    Murdochs have finally pissed off some important people!

    The Americans!

    Game over!

  9. Alan Brown Silver badge

    If anyone thinks....

    ... that this is confined to News International, then they're bonkers.

    There's at least as much not being said as is being reported. (spooks don't need spying kit to access this stuff. They just show up at telco head office with a ripa order)

  10. h4rm0ny
    Mushroom

    And those who paid for his crimes?

    I hope that after all this, those people who paid money to NI to read the details of other people's private lives, all those who regard tragedies like 9/11 or Milly Dowler's death as a soap opera for their personal entertainment, learn to feel suitably ashamed.

    Freedom of the Press is an important thing. We need it for unearthing corrupt politicians, preventing suppression of views and information that powerful factions would like to be kept from the public. And when someone abuses that freedom, it weakens the case for the freedom of the press. We get things like the super-injunctions passed (temporarily, anyway) to protect the details of someone's marriage - and what business of ours is it really, anyway? - which can then be misused for to conceal actual wrong-doing that the public has a proper interest in. Just like criminals undermine the case for privacy and not having CCTV everywhere, like movie pirates undermine the case for not having DRM on everything, like a kid using their parents credit card to buy something undermines the case for their being trusted unsupervised... Protections of journalists are there so that we can preserve human rights, not so we can read about someone having an argument with their spouse. Shame on NI, and shame on the people who paid them to listen in on Milly Dowler's voicemail, 9/11 victims or any other victim whose private lives were made into a circus for the shallow people of the planet.

    1. Naughtyhorse

      Freedom of the Press is an important thing...

      but is it? really?

      I mean, do the maths, the numbers of people reading any daily newspaper in the uk are, more or less, statistically insignificant (ok, well about 10% of the populace? give or take) - The big hitting red tops sell a couple of million copies a day, proper newspapers are lucky to shift a few hundred thousand copies a day.

      I'd like to say that the vast majority of people have done the same as me; just refused to play their stupid games and voted with our wallets.

      The press got away with all this crap because they are really irellevant (until the Millie Dowller thing) If TV journalists got within a country mile of the sort of behaviour that the average fleet st. hack regards as basic tradecraft then the station would lose it's operating license in a trice. And their editors are aware of it, therefore it's not an issue.

      a pox on the lot of em, the sooner all these dinosaurs go the way of the news of the screws the better.

      also think of the trees!

      :-)

  11. kain preacher

    Third Rail

    I thought that nothing would happen to Ruppert but after seeing that he might of tried to access 9/11 victims cell phones I changed my mind. If true they are going to shove spigot through Ruppert and slow roast him over hot coals. The boy just pissed on a HV third rail. some thing like 1000VDC

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Well, old Rupert is not caged yet....

    But it will be interesting to see how this works out.

    More specifically, I am interested in seeing how these alledged payments to corrupt Brit police play out. As a U.S.-listed corporation, News Corp. is bound by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and if it is shown that they paid off cops to get an edge on some news stories, then that means federal indictments and jail time for News Corp managers and execs who approved or looked the other way on the payoffs.

    Leavenworth gets awfully drafty in winter. :)

  13. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Happy

    Rebekah Brooks - Human Target?

    Candidate for rendition

    Just a thought.

  14. FozzyBear

    Damn TITLE HERE

    But if all this does happen, and fox news and co become an object lesson for others. (please let it be so) which broadcaster is the US government going to turn to, to spin their bullshit so that the web footed, inbred, gap toothed simpletons can praise Jesus and the USA for stomping on the neck of yet another nation.

  15. Tex

    Worse Than Murdoch

    Here's someone worse than Murdoch. Read then forward this link to everyone you know, so they don't get scammed: texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/foxmurdoch-versus-amwaydevos.html

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