HACKGATE DAY 442: NEWSCORP, A COMPANY BUILT ON ILLEGAL PRIVACY INVASION

For Rupert was an humble man

That Newscorp has been using various hacking and blagging methods globally to do far more than create celeb stories seems finally to have been nailed this week. Monday night’s revelations about activities with NDS in the UK were followed last night by a similar expose in Australia.

Significantly, the Aussie story starts in 1999 – surely further evidence that Newscorp embraced the technology the second it became aware of it….and has used it ruthlessly ever since. Australian newspaper the Australian Financial Review released 14,000 emails concerning one of the group’s security subsidiaries. Emanating from the hard drive of a former head of security at Murdoch sibsidiary NDS, they  show that the company paid computer hackers to work with its “operational security” unit….aka covert black ops…..to size up competitor weaknesses among pay-TV rivals across Australasia, Europe, and the US. The uncovering of activities in the US are a particular blow to Murdoch, as the laws against this there are especially unforgiving…..and the FBI is very happy to have such gifts fall into its lap.

And it’s not good news for the Met either: the emails come from the computer of Ray Adams, a former commander in the Metropolitan Police in London, who served as head of operational security for NDS in Europe from 1996 to 2002. Oops.

Here we go again….illegal activity to gain advantage, hiring and corrupting senior Met officials, undue political influence. The Murdoch Times attack on Cameron’s cash for access is an obvious piece of Murdochiavellian revenge, as his buttering up Alex Salmond is an attempt to escape English Justice.

The man and his empire of criminality are cultural anti-matter. He and they are not fit to own a broadcasting licence in Britain. We should be winding down the public enquiries, and winding up the police and broadcasting authorities to put the worst offenders behind bars, and clear out Newscorp’s British presence entirely.

Related: As Murdoch destroys our ethics, will Ackermann destroy our economies?