Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Phone Hacking Scandal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
Excerpt:
In July 2011 it emerged that Cameron met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister.[59] It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring Andy Coulson, the former editor of News of the World, as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007.[60] This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and The Guardian.[61] Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at The News of the World, specifically the News International phone hacking scandal.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Elveden
Excerpt:
Operation Elveden is a British police investigation.[1] It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investigation.[2]
According to the Metropolitan Police website, Operation Elveden is an investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police.[3] It is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.[4]
The investigation is led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers of the Metropolitan Police Service,[2] who is also leading Operation Weeting. The Elveden suspects are given numbers to identify them. Currently three people have been arrested in Elveden. The service's Directorate of Professional Standards is also involved in the investigation.[2]

[edit] References


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tuleta
Excerpt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Motorman_(ICO_investigation)
Excerpt:
Operation Motorman was a 2003 investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office into allegations of offences under the Data Protection Act by the British press.[1][2][3]
The ICO first became aware of the scale of the problem in November 2002, when an ICO investigator attended a search under warrant of John Boyall, a private investigator in Surrey. Documents found on the premises revealed the misuse of data from the Police National Computer. This discovery led to two investigations: Operation Motorman, conducted by the ICO, and Operation Glade, conducted by the Metropolitan Police.
The ICO later obtained search warrants for the Hampshire office of a private detective Steve Whittamore. A huge cache of documents revealed, in precise detail, a network of police and public employees illegally selling personal information obtained from government computer systems.
In February 2004, four suspects plead guilty to conspiring to commit misconduct in public office: Wittamore and Boyall, retire police office Alan King, and Paul Marshall, a police communications officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solicitors_Regulation_Authority
Excerpt:
e Solicitors Regulation Authority was launched on 29 January 2007. It is the regulatory body for more than 120,000 solicitors in England and Wales. Its purpose is "to set, promote and secure in the public interest standards of behaviour and professional performance necessary to ensure that clients receive a good service and that the rule of law is upheld"[1] .
It was previously known as the Law Society Regulation Board, but changed its name to emphasise its independence; it remains part of the Law Society of England and Wales due to administrative and legal reasons, but operates separately from it.

 


[edit] Activities

The Law Society delegated regulatory powers to the SRA and charged it to exercise those functions independently and in the public interest. This was done following a report by Sir David Clementi of all legal services in England and Wales, which recommended that professional bodies holding both regulatory and representative responsibilities should separate those roles. (see Report of the Review of the Regulatory Framework for Legal Services in England and Wales).
Those functions include, but are not limited to: setting down minimum academic and behavioural standards for entry into the profession and ensuring continued compliance with these standards.; the issue of yearly Practising Certificates; the investigation of allegations of a failure to meet the set behavioural standards, and breaches of the Code of Conduct and other rules; intervention into a solicitor's firm in the public interest.
The SRA is headed by Antony Townsend (Chief Executive), who reports to the SRA Board chaired by Charles Plant.

[edit] History

In July 2011 the Solicitors Regulation Authority announced that it would be launching a formal inquiry into the role played by solicitors in the News International phone hacking scandal.[2][3]





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individuals_related_to_the_News_Corporation_hacking_scandal
Excerpt:
The News Corporation Hacking Scandal is an ongoing controversy involving the News of the World, a now-defunct British tabloid newspaper published by News International — a subsidiary of News Corporation — and the allegations that individuals working for the newspaper engaged in phone hacking, computer hacking, or corruption.

[edit] Arrests

[edit] Rebekah Brooks


Rebekah Brooks testifies about the scandal.
Rebekah Brooks was Editor of the News of the World from 2000-2003. She subsequently rose through ranks, eventually serving as chief executive of News International. She was arrested on 17 July.

[edit] Andy Coulson

Andy Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking. He subsequently joined David Cameron's personnel as communications director, until announcing his departure on 21 January 2011 because of continued media coverage of the phone-hacking affair.[1][2] He was arrested on 8 July 2011.[3]


[edit] Neil Wallis

Neil Wallis was a 35-year-long veteran of News International who joined News of the World in 2003 as a Deputy Editor, under Coulson, and in 2007 became its Executive Editor, before leaving in 2009. He was arrested on 14 July on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.

[edit] James Weatherup

James Weatherup was a News of the World journalist who rose to the rank of Chief Reporter under Rebekah Brooks. He was arrested on 14 April 2011.

[edit] Glenn Mulcaire

Glenn Mulcaire is a former private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for illegally accessing voicemails for the News of the World.

[edit] Clive Goodman

Clive Goodman was the royal editor at the News of the World. He was arrested in August 2006 and later jailed for illegally intercepting phone messages, in this case those pertaining to the royal family. On 8 July 2011, Goodman was again arrested after new revelations about phone hacking had come to light.

[edit] John Boyall, Steve Whittamore, Paul Marshall, Alan King

In 2004, four men each pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. Paul Marshall, a civilian worker in a police station, had accessed police computer record (by fabricating emergency calls as justification). Alan King, a retired police officer, had acted as intermediary. John Boyall and Steve Whittamore, two private investigator, had in turn been passing that information on to media outlets.

[edit] Resignations

[edit] Paul Stephenson

From 2009-2011, Paul Stephenson was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the highest ranking officer within the Metropolitan Police Service. On 17 July 2011, he announced his intention to resign from the post due to his connection with Neil Wallis.[4][5]

[edit] John Yates

John Yates was Assistant Commissioner in the London Metropolitan Police Service. He resigned on 18 July.

[edit] NewsCorp executives and affiliated

[edit] James Murdoch


James and Rupert Murdoch appear before the parliamentary committee.
James Murdoch is the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. James Murdoch currently serves as chairman and chief executive of News Corporation. In his testimony before the parliamentary committe James Murdoch denied reading or being aware of the "For Neville" email which suggested the practice was more widely used than just by a rogue News of the World reporter. A former editor of the newspaper, Colin Myler, and Tom Crone, the former News International legal manager, both said they "did inform" him of the email.[6]

[edit] The firm of Harbottle & Lewis

Harbottle & Lewis is a London based law firm that was hired by News International. In a letter dated 29 May 2007, Lawrence Abramson of Harbottle & Lewis wrote that the firm had conducted an extensive review and failed to find evidence of widespread wrongdoing. [7] This letter was subsequently used by various News International executives in their defence during a parliamentary investigation into phone hacking in 2009.[7]
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has begun a formal investigation into potential misconduct by Harbottle & Lewis.[8]

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