Phone Hacking Whistle Blower Found Dead

hesouttamylifehesouttamylife Posts: 5,393
edited January 1970 in News
Phone Hacking Whistle blower found dead
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Police: Phone-hacking whistleblower found dead
By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD - Associated Press,JILL LAWLESS - Associated Press | AP –
36 mins ago

FILE -- London's Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates giving
evidence …


FILE -- London's Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates stands
outside …

LONDON (AP) — Police say Sean Hoare, the whistleblower reporter who alleged
widespread hacking at the News of the World, has been found dead.

Police said Hoare's death at his home in England was not considered to be
suspicious, according to Britain's Press Association news agency.

Hoare was quoted by The New York Times as saying that phone-hacking was widely
used and even encouraged at the News of the World tabloid under then-editor Andy
Coulson.

Coulson — who most recently served as Prime Minister David Cameron's
communications chief, was arrested as part of the widening investigation into
phone hacking and police corruption.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's
earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) — Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal walloped the London police
force Monday, as the rapid-fire resignations of two top officers were followed
by claims of possible illegal eavesdropping, bribery and collusion. U.K
officials immediately vowed to investigate.

Prime Minister David Cameron, feeling the political heat from his own close ties
to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire, cut short his trip to Africa and
called an emergency session of Parliament for Wednesday so he could address
lawmakers on the scandal.

The crisis has triggered upheaval in the upper ranks of Britain's police.
Monday's resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard's top
anti-terrorist officer — followed that Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson —
both for links to an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of
the World tabloid.

The high-profile resignations came on the eve of a highly anticipated televised
public grilling of Murdoch and his son James by U.K. lawmakers.

The scandal over Murdoch journalists hacking into cell phones for scoops and
paying police for information has taken down top police and media figures with
breathtaking speed and knocked billions off the value of Murdoch's News Corp.
The media baron was already forced to shut down the 168-year-old News of the
World tabloid, accept the resignations of top deputies in Britain and the U.S.
and abandon his dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite
broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.

Britain's police watchdog on Monday said it had received allegations of
potential wrongdoing in connection with phone hacking against four senior
officers — Stephenson, Yates and two former senior officers. One of the claims
is that Yates inappropriately helped get a job for the daughter of former News
of the World editor, Neil Wallis, one of 10 people arrested in the scandal.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was looking into the
claims.

Yates insisted he had done nothing wrong. "I have acted with complete
integrity," he said. "My conscience is clear."

But the government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and
corruption.

"Who polices the police?" asked Home Secretary Theresa May as she announced an
inquiry into "instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual
arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media
and other parties."

As more details emerged about ties between senior police and News Corp. figures,
London's police force is under intense pressure to explain why its original
hacking investigation failed to find evidence to prosecute anyone other than a
single reporter and a private investigator.

Yates was the official who decided two years ago not to reopen police inquiries
into phone hacking and police bribery by tabloid journalists, saying he did not
believe there was any new evidence to consider.

Detectives reopened the investigation earlier this year and now say they have
the names of 3,700 potential hacking targets — celebrities, politicians, other
journalists and even murder victims.

Cameron is under heavy pressure after the resignations of Stephenson and Yates,
and Sunday's arrest of Murdoch executive Rebekah Brooks — a friend and neighbor
whom he has met with at least six times since entering office 14 months ago.

Brooks was arrested on suspicion of hacking into the cell phones of celebrities,
politicians and others in the news and bribing police for information to fuel
sensational scoops for her gossipy tabloids.

Cameron's critics grew louder in London as the prime minister visited South
Africa on a two-day visit to the continent. The trip was already cut in half by
the crisis and Cameron trimmed another seven hours from his itinerary as his
government faced growing questions about its cozy relationship with the Murdoch
empire.

Parliament was to break for the summer on Tuesday after lawmakers grilled
Murdoch, his son James and Brooks in a highly anticipated public airing about
the scandal.

Cameron, however, demanded that lawmakers reconvene Wednesday "so I can make a
further statement."

Cameron insisted his Conservative-led government had "taken very decisive
action" by setting up a judge-led inquiry into the wrongdoing at the now-defunct
Murdoch tabloid News of the World and into the overall relations between British
politicians, the media and police.

"We have helped to ensure a large and properly resourced police investigation
that can get to the bottom of what happened, and wrongdoing, and we have pretty
much demonstrated complete transparency in terms of media contact," Cameron
said.

But opposition leader Ed Miliband said Cameron needed to answer "a whole series
of questions" about his relationships with Brooks, James Murdoch and Andy
Coulson, the former News of the World editor whom Cameron later hired as his
communications chief. Coulson resigned from that post in January was arrested
earlier this month in the scandal.

"At the moment, he seems unable to provide the leadership the country needs,"
Miliband said of Cameron.

At Tuesday's televised hearing, politicians will seek more details from Rupert
Murdoch, his son James and Brooks about the scale of criminality at the News of
the World. The Murdochs will try to avoid incriminating themselves or doing more
harm to their business without misleading Parliament, which is a crime.

The showdown comes as James Murdoch — chairman of BSkyB and chief executive of
his father's European and Asian operations — appears increasingly isolated
following the departure of Brooks.

James Murdoch did not directly oversee the News of the World, but he approved
payments to some of the paper's most prominent hacking victims, including
700,000 pounds ($1.1 million) to Professional Footballers' Association chief
Gordon Taylor. That could make him a possible candidate for arrest or
resignation.

James Murdoch said last week that he "did not have a complete picture" when he
approved the payouts.

Murdoch is eager to stop the crisis from spreading to the United States, where
many of his most lucrative assets — including the Fox TV network, 20th Century
Fox film studio, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post — are based.

News Corp. on Monday appointed lawyer Anthony Grabiner to run its Management and
Standards Committee, which will deal with the phone hacking scandal. It said the
committee will cooperate with all investigations on hacking and alleged police
payments, and carry out its own inquiries.

Judd Legum, a media expert at the Washington-based Center for American Progress,
said there was "potential liability" in the U.S. for News Corp., which could
face substantial fines if found to have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act. He said the Justice Department had been aggressively pursuing
such cases.

"Even if it happens abroad, under U.S. law you can't bribe foreign officials for
business," said Legum, noting that investigators would have to determine whether
top executives were "directly involved" in bribery if individual prosecutions
were to proceed.

Stephenson, the London police chief, resigned Sunday over his ties to Wallis,
who has been arrested in the scandal and was employed as a part time PR
consultant to the force for a year until September. He said he had nothing to do
with the earlier phone hacking inquiry or with Wallis, but was resigning to
allow his agency to focus on the London 2012 Olympics instead of leadership
changes.

Yates, also accused of links to Wallis, resigned after being told he would be
suspended pending an ethics investigation. Yates will be replaced by Assistant
Commissioner Cressida Dick on an interim basis.

Brooks will also be in the hot spot Tuesday, facing lawmakers' questions while
she is the subject of a police investigation. She quit Friday as the bold chief
executive of News International, Murdoch's British newspaper arm, and was
arrested by police on Sunday.

At an appearance before lawmakers in 2003, she admitted that News International
had paid police for information. But she has always said she did not know any
phone hacking was going on when she was editor of the News of the World between
2000 and 2003 — a claim many find hard to believe.

It was under Brooks' watch that News of the World journalists accessed the phone
of slain teenager Milly Dowler in 2002 while police were looking for the missing
13-year-old — a revelation that has fueled outrage in Britain.

Brooks was detained and questioned for nine hours Sunday before being released
on bail. Her lawyer, Stephen Parkinson, released a defiant statement Monday
professing her innocence, and saying that police would "have to give an account
of their actions" considering "the enormous reputational damage" Brooks' arrest
had caused her.

Police have arrested 10 people in all, including other former News of the World
reporters and editors, but cleared Press Association royal reporter Laura
Elston, on Monday. No one has been charged in the investigations.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office, meanwhile, said Monday it was giving "full
consideration" to a request from a lawmaker that it open an investigation into
Murdoch's News Corp. activities in Britain.

___

Meera Selva, Danica Kirka and Christopher Torchia contributed to this report.

Comments

  • SouzaSouza Posts: 9,400
    Not suspicious MY ASS.

    "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

  • wishingstarwishingstar Posts: 2,927
    Not suspicious MY ASS.

    UnbeLIEvable!
    Big brass ones for sure!!!!!!!
    Totally second that Souza!!!
  • curlscurls Posts: 3,111
    A more detailed article is already posted here:

    <!-- l -->viewtopic.php?f=98&t=12505&view=unread#p343930<!-- l -->

    Another 'convenient' death (like Kelly and the WMD), and the police say it's not suspicious. What's the betting they'll lay the blame on 'his drink and drug problem'?
  • becbec Posts: 6,387
    Another article: <!-- m -->http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju ... -the-world<!-- m -->

    The media is exposing... itself?? Are we not in Kansas anymore??

    This is huge. I'd love to believe that Michael is behind this and somehow put these events into motion... I'd really love that.
  • Another article: <!-- m -->http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju ... -the-world<!-- m -->

    The media is exposing... itself?? Are we not in Kansas anymore??

    This is huge. I'd love to believe that Michael is behind this and somehow put these events into motion... I'd really love that.

    I agree - how convenient to say it's not suspicious. Right.

    Bec - I'd love that too. This is one time that I'm enjoying watching the dominoes fall. I just hope the dominoes reach over here to the U.S.A.
  • Believe 777Believe 777 Posts: 403
    Another article: <!-- m -->http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju ... -the-world<!-- m -->

    The media is exposing... itself?? Are we not in Kansas anymore??

    This is huge. I'd love to believe that Michael is behind this and somehow put these events into motion... I'd really love that.

    I agree - how convenient to say it's not suspicious. Right.

    Bec - I'd love that too. This is one time that I'm enjoying watching the dominoes fall. I just hope the dominoes reach over here to the U.S.A.


    I agree this is huge! The links are coming out piece by piece, the media, police, government and as I keep hearing on the news "This is only the beginning".

    And no suspicious death??? The timing alone is suspicious!

    @Bec:- I found this article which could well link U.S.A with all this.

    <!-- m -->http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... in-US.html<!-- m -->

    I wonder what will happen next???
  • wishingstarwishingstar Posts: 2,927
    I posted this recently on TIAI 25.....trying to go off of TS's open to different theories. However, it really needs to be on a thread like this.....Souza, hope it's OK I just copied it over......trying to save you a step if possible. You already do so much. Here it is:

    Hey guys....

    I thought I'd post some thoughts here....there are some brilliant minds here. I need some help with this train of thought....hoping someone might jump on board, lol.

    I have been thinking this Rupert Murdoch thing is bigger than all heck. It reaches into many different, dark corners of so-called journalism/media. You can google what he owns...it's astounding. Here a link to one site that lists many:

    <!-- m -->http://www.democraticunderground.com/di<!-- m --> ... 89x6021496

    In the world of media...he can dominate. I have found that he is member of the Order of St. Gregory. a Catholic knighthood:

    <!-- m -->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_S<!-- m --> ... _the_Great

    and might lose it:

    <!-- m -->http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/comment<!-- m --> ... rescinded/

    It was in January 1998:

    <!-- m -->http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/acc<!-- m --> ... +Catholics

    Murdoch claims not to be very religious, however, his wife is catholic:

    <!-- m -->http://www.nndb.com/people/420/000023351/<!-- m -->

    His current wife is interesting...he married her 17 days after his divorce from Anna......on June 25,1999.
    Interesting:

    <!-- m -->http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/<!-- m --> ... /Deng.html

    Now, that all set the stage for my thought train:

    1) I can't help but think there is a link to Tommy Mottola (Universal Music Group/Casablanca Records??)
    2) Is the link to Mottola a bad one...or was Mottola onto something about Murdoch?
    3) The knighthood thing is extremely interesting to me. There is talk of him being Jewish, being Catholic, not being anything. The Order of St. Gregory is interesting to read about:

    <!-- m -->http://www.chivalricorders.org/vatican/gregory.htm<!-- m -->

    <!-- m -->http://www.knightsofchristsmercy.com/st_gregory.html<!-- m -->

    4) Is there a link to some of the medals/ribbons that Michael wore during the trial...they are similar to the Order's medals...you can see it in above links.

    5) Murdoch's News of the World is the one that published the deathbed picture:

    <!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pECpNZ3bNk<!-- m -->

    6) Since when does a state thank a religion?

    <!-- m -->http://www.knightsofchristsmercy.com/pd<!-- m --> ... _Award.pdf

    7) Here is my million dollar thought.....
    Is there a link between Michael's accusations and Murdoch? In order to shed light away from the Catholic church's own scandals at the time (<!-- m -->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases<!-- m -->) did Murdoch knowingly set up Michael in the media and public's eyes? Was it for knighthood? A promise to the church? He certainly had the means to set him up....the church, the state, the media empire at his call. Was he the crux of it all? Did Murdoch enable the media to run with wild accusations about Michael?

    Anyways....that's a start.
    I have tried to summarize things here.....sorry for the long, rambling post.
    I'd appreciate any feedback, thoughts...TS, that includes you! We all have different thoughts and opinions...it's only together that we are strong enough to face the adversity of belief. Being a beLIEver means more than just believing in a death hoax. It means you are in it for the long haul....believing in Michael and his family.

    I wish you all nothing but the best blessings always!
    LOVE

    PS>

    OMGsoh.....I just googled...... Rupert Murdoch Elvis Presley
    I don't have time right now....but there is a huge amount! I will read through it more and post later....just fyi.

    Blessings!
  • hesouttamylifehesouttamylife Posts: 5,393
    When I heard about Murdock’s empire’s fall from grace, the first thing that came to mind was that Michael has to be somehow instrumental in bringing them down. Wouldn’t it be something if these are the ghouls who had threatened Michael and the reason he is being protected. Now that this has gone down and still tumbling as we speak (see you in July), maybe Michael can finally start preparing to come back, maybe even as a viable secret witness against him & his slime.
  • becbec Posts: 6,387
    That would be wonderful hesoutmylife. That would truly be justice for Michael.
  • LulzSec hacks Murdoch news sites







    By Suzanne Choney

    LulzSec, the group of hackers that said three weeks ago it was disbanding, claimed credit Monday for tampering with Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper website, while an allied group, Anonymous, claimed credit for a denial-of-service attack that brought down the website of The TImes, another Murdoch paper.

    "Tango down," Anonymous said on its Twitter page about The Times, adding: "To be honest, not quite sure why. Consulting lulzcats say it may be a domino effect like in the Arab world."

    Late Monday, those who went to the Sun's site were redirected to a page with a fake story saying Murdoch's body had been found in his garden. Then they were redirected to LulzSec's Twitter page, where the group proclaimed:

    "We have joy, we have fun, we have messed up Murdoch's Sun," the group said.

    Murdoch is scheduled to appear before a parliamentary committee Tuesday to answer lawmakers' questions over phone hacking at News International, his British newspaper division. The scandal resulted in the closure of "News of the World" a little more than a week ago, and in the arrests of several individuals connected with the company, as well as a key police official.

    Most thought LulzSec was gone from the scene when it said last month it was stepping back to work with larger hacking group Anonymous in efforts to hack government and corporate websites the group deems corrupt.

    But in an eerie Twitter posting July 13, LulzSec indicated it was far from done. "The LulzBoat is on holiday across mysterious shores, but we have a lovely surprise for you in the future," the group said.

    Lulz — which is Internet speak for "laughs" and "Sec" — short for "security" — made its name known in May, starting with defacing the website of the Public Broadcasting System. LulzSec posted a phony story on the site claiming that dead rapper Tupac Shakur was actually alive in New Zealand.

    That hack followed PBS' airing of a "Frontline" documentary considered by LulzSec and Anonymous as being critical of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

    Anonymous gained notoriety for its denial-of-service attacks on Visa and MasterCard late last year. Those attacks were retribution, Anonymous said, because the companies halted online donations during the WikiLeaks controversy, blocking contributions to Bradley Manning, the accused document leaker now in custody.

    — The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    <!-- m -->http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... news-sites<!-- m -->
  • hesouttamylifehesouttamylife Posts: 5,393
    LOL we were posting this at the same time.
  • MJonmindMJonmind Posts: 7,290
    Murdoch is eager to stop the crisis from spreading to the United States, where
    many of his most lucrative assets — including the Fox TV network, 20th Century
    Fox film studio, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post — are based.

    Bring it on! Both Diane Dimond and Diane Sawyer worked for Fox News.
    I really feel this Anonomous with the V-mask usage, and this LulzSec are linked, and could be traced to our Michael.
    Hmm... MJ, you are smooth!! <!-- smichael-jackson/ -->michael-jackson/<!-- smichael-jackson/ -->

    On the other hand, I'm also thinking that among the elite of the world, if they want to teach a lesson to one of their own who are getting out of line, they bring up some petty supposed crime, something that all of them do, move all the powers that need to be involved to bring the offender down. Other names like Conrad Black, Martha Stewart come to mind.

    The domino effect, however could very well usher in WW3 which would be devastating for all of us in a nuclear age. We might wish things continued as they are. BUT, in God's divine plan, everything is moving steadily, relentlessly to the climax as Revelation foretells, although it may be quite different than Christians hypothisize.
  • LOL we were posting this at the same time.
    yeah i just seen that too... <!-- slolol/ -->lolol/<!-- slolol/ --> i just added a new one under the main one you posted in the other thread about the group that is taking responibility...its in the thread you started after mine... <!-- slolol/ -->lolol/<!-- slolol/ --> like they say great minds think alike ...well its going down baby!! <!-- sparty/ -->party/<!-- sparty/ --> thats for sure!!..our mj could be behind this as stated b4..nothing surpizes me anymore
    huggs love n faith
    suzz
  • hesouttamylifehesouttamylife Posts: 5,393
    LOL we were posting this at the same time.
    yeah i just seen that too... <!-- slolol/ -->lolol/<!-- slolol/ --> i just added a new one under the main one you posted in the other thread about the group that is taking responibility...its in the thread you started after mine... <!-- slolol/ -->lolol/<!-- slolol/ --> like they say great minds think alike ...well its going down baby!! <!-- sparty/ -->party/<!-- sparty/ --> thats for sure!!..our mj could be behind this as stated b4..nothing surpizes me anymore
    huggs love n faith
    suzz
    <!-- sbeerchug -->beerchug<!-- sbeerchug --> <!-- sbow/ -->bow/<!-- sbow/ --> for sure, as the saying goes “keep watching” <!-- styping/ -->typing/<!-- styping/ -->
  • becbec Posts: 6,387
    LulzSec hacks Murdoch news sites
    By Suzanne Choney

    Late Monday, those who went to the Sun's site were redirected to a page with a fake story saying Murdoch's body had been found in his garden. Then they were redirected to LulzSec's Twitter page, where the group proclaimed:

    "We have joy, we have fun, we have messed up Murdoch's Sun," the group said.

    Reminds me of the Onion story where Michael was supposedly long dead and buried at Neverland near the train tracks.

    And call me crazy but the little rhyme reminds me of something back would say <!-- ssuspicious// -->suspicious//<!-- ssuspicious// --> <!-- s:? -->:?<!-- s:? -->
  • gwynnedgwynned Posts: 1,361
    I have posted this before but it may bear repeating that Michael's partner in Kingdom Entertainment was the same Saudi Prince that bought 7% of FOX which allowed him some editorial control. Was this part of Michael's strategy of buying into the media, infiltrating it and taking it down?

    Speaking of coincidences, The Simpsons aired a show poking fun at Murdoch just as the story broke! Is Michael using humor and public humiliation to bring down his enemies instead of swords like his counterpart, Mr. V. BTW, very off topic, but I just watched Edward Scissorhands after many years and couldn't fail to notice the prominent V on Edwards cap.
  • paula-cpaula-c Posts: 7,221
    voiceforthesilent wrote:

    bec wrote:
    Another article: <!-- m -->http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju<!-- m --> ... -the-world

    The media is exposing... itself?? Are we not in Kansas anymore??

    This is huge. I'd love to believe that Michael is behind this and somehow put these events into motion... I'd really love that.

    I agree - how convenient to say it's not suspicious. Right.

    Bec - I'd love that too. This is one time that I'm enjoying watching the dominoes fall. I just hope the dominoes reach over here to the U.S.A.



    All parties, the media stink, they have no shame
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