Douglas Caddy

Heather Mills claims Mirror Group journalist admitted hacking her phone Former model told BBC's Newsnight that in 2001 journalist admitted listening to message following row with Paul McCartney By James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 August 2011 18.44 BST Heather Mills on Wednesday claimed a journalist from the Mirror Group admitted to her that he had obtained a story about her and her former husband Sir Paul McCartney by hacking into her mobile phone messages. The former model told the BBC's Newsnight that the unidentified journalist called her in 2001, following a row with the ex-Beatle, who was then her boyfriend, and quoted parts of a message McCartney had left on her voicemail after she had travelled to India. According to Ms Mills, the journalist rang her and "started quoting verbatim the messages from my machine". Ms Mills said she challenged the journalist, saying: "You've obviously hacked my phone and if you do anything with this story ... I'll go to the police." She said the individual responded: "OK, OK, yeah we did hear it on your voice messages, I won't run it." Nancy Dell'Olio, the ex-partner of former England manager Sven Göran Eriksson also told Newsnight that she believes the Mirror hacked their voicemails. "There were strange coincidences that made me to believe it absolutely," Dell'Olio said. "How they could get hold of some information? I do know that in some particular circumstances the only person who knew was me and my ex-partner so it was absolutely unbelievably strange how they could get hold of such information." The interviews were recorded for Wednesday's programme. The Mills accusation will place the spotlight back on the Mirror's publisher, Trinity Mirror, and the paper's editor at the time, Piers Morgan. Mills told the BBC it was not Morgan who called her, but the corporation has chosen not to identify the journalist. Morgan, who now hosts a chat show for CNN, has consistently denied hacking into phones, having any knowledge about hacking at the title, or running stories obtained by using the method. A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: "Trinity Mirror's position is clear: all our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct". Morgan wrote a column in the Mail on Sunday in 2006 in which he described being played a message that had been left by McCartney for Mills. "It was heartbreaking," Morgan wrote. "The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back. He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang 'We Can Work it Out' into the answer phone." Mills was the subject of intense tabloid interest before, during and after her marriage from the former Beatle. She is considering launching legal action against the News of the World after the Metropolitan police confirmed to her earlier this year that her mobile-phone number and other details had been found in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World. Morgan wrote in his published diary, The Insider, that following a personal request from McCartney he had pulled a story about Mills and McCartney arguing in 2001 over Mills's decision to go to India to help the victims of an earthquake. Newsnight also claims it has established that other celebrities, including Ulrika Jonsson, beleive their phones were hacked by the Daily Mirror or its Sunday sister title the Sunday Mirror.

Latest Arrest Highlights a Tabloid’s Cash Payments The New York Times By JO BECKER and RAVI SOMAIYA August 3, 2011 LONDON — On the ground floor of the sprawling office complex that was, until recently, the home of The News of the World, a bespectacled clerk sat at a counter behind a reinforced glass cashier’s window. When reporters needed cash to pursue articles, they simply filled out a green form and, after getting authorization from the managing editor, exchanged it at the window for up to tens of thousands of pounds, said several journalists who worked there. As the police on Tuesday arrested the former managing editor, Stuart Kuttner, on suspicion of conspiring to hack cellphones and pay police officers, that cash payment system has become the focus of inquiries by Scotland Yard and by News International, which owned the tabloid until it closed in July. Mr. Kuttner, who is the 11th former News of the World employee arrested in the scandal surrounding the tabloid, personally authorized cash expenses until his retirement two years ago in his role as managing editor, said multiple current and former company employees, who, like most people interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing police investigations and to avoid jeopardizing their ties with the company. Mr. Kuttner did not respond to requests for comment. A person familiar with the company’s internal investigation said the regular infusions of cash, usually also authorized by newsroom editors as well as Mr. Kuttner, contributed to the newsroom’s “wild West” atmosphere. The funds were used as advances on expenses and also to pay sources for articles, said the former journalists. So far a search by the company of the cash records has found more than $200,000 in payments to police officers from The News of the World, according to two people with knowledge of the documents. The investigation of payoffs to the police is one part of what has become a three-pronged inquiry that began by focusing on the hacking of cellphone voice messages and has also expanded to the hacking of e-mails. An official at News International, a British subsidiary of the News Corporation, said the records of cash payment went back as far as 2002, covering the editorships of Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, both of whom were arrested in recent weeks. The News International internal review has been expanded to examine both cash payments and the use of private investigators at the company’s other British newspapers, which include The Sun, The Times of London and The Sunday Times, the official familiar with the News Corporation inquiry said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. A press officer for News International said the police agreed to allow the company to retain possession of the records while it conducted the first examination of them. The company said it could not hand the evidence directly to police without ensuring that journalistic sources, and legally privileged documents, were protected. That arrangement drew criticism from a former senior Scotland Yard official, who was not involved in the hacking inquiry. “On the day News Corp. announced it was shutting down the newspaper, what I would have done is gotten a warrant, raided the premises and taken everything so that I could have looked at it myself,” the former official said. Scotland Yard declined to comment because investigations were still under way. Mr. Kuttner, 71, who worked at the tabloid for 22 years, is known to have kept meticulous written records. Former reporters describe him as a penny pincher, prone to calling journalists to demand justification for expenses. Reporters had to give details about whom the cash was intended for, and the nature of the article. “He didn’t see it as Rupert’s money you were spending,” said one, referring to the tabloid’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, “he saw it as Stuart’s money.” In a 2003 e-mail exchange that has partly formed the basis for the investigation into police payments, the newspaper’s royal reporter complained about a management push, spearheaded by Mr. Kuttner, to cut back on payments to sources. The reporter, Clive Goodman, told Mr. Coulson, the top editor at the time, that he needed to pay his contacts in the Scotland Yard unit that protects the royal family. Mr. Goodman pleaded guilty to phone hacking in 2006 and was jailed. He was recently rearrested on suspicion of making payments to the police. In the years after Mr. Goodman’s initial arrest, and as the newspaper moved to a new building, the payments system changed, said two former journalists. Small payments were doled out from a safe in a senior editor’s office, the journalists said. Larger amounts of money, if needed, were brought from banks, said a senior News International official. The company is also reviewing its own records at the request of the police, in an effort to uncover hacking and other potentially illegal practices. Also Tuesday, a London court imposed a six-week jail term on a 26-year-old man who threw a paper plate of foam at Mr. Murdoch two weeks ago during a parliamentary hearing. The lawyer for the man, Jonathan May-Bowles, a stand-up comic known as Jonnie Marbles, said the court had been told that Mr. Murdoch had not wanted charges to be brought. But the district judge said the comic had aimed to disrupt a parliamentary hearing that was of “huge importance.” John F. Burns contributed reporting.

Tom Watson: 'Phone hacking is only the start. There's a lot more to come out' The Labour MP has won the admiration of fellow politicians for doggedly investigating the phone-hacking scandal. What has the experience taught him, how has it changed his life – and what revelations are still to come? By John Harris guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 August 2011 19.59 BST A month ago, Tom Watson received word that the Guardian was about to expose the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone by the News of the World. With 72 hours to go, he cleared his diary; a few days later, he was averaging three hours sleep a night, as he and his staff picked through leaked documents, newspaper archives, personal testimony from phone-hacking victims, and more. As the MP who had been obsessively trying to cut through the murk surrounding News International for two years, he well knew that the most dramatic chapter in the two-year phone-hacking saga had arrived – and the imperative now was to work harder than ever. So how have the last few weeks been? "Sleep-deprived, totally crazy," he says, sitting in his parliamentary office during what seems to be a rare moment of calm. "But also, there's been a great sense of relief. I think I said something to David Cameron about a month before: that there were powerful forces trying to cover this story up. At some points over the last two years, I thought it might blow. But I've also thought that the lid could be welded back on. But when Nick Davies broke the Milly Dowler story, that was the point where I knew they'd never get the lid back on." And has he been surprised by what's happened since? "Yeah. I guess two years ago, I felt that all this would probably cost Rebekah Brooks her job. I thought the scale of wrongdoing was so great that somebody on the UK side of the company would have to take responsibility. And I was absolutely convinced that there was a cover-up. But I didn't know that it would all travel abroad. I didn't know it would get to America and Australia, and everywhere that it has." The closure of the News of the World, he says, came as "a genuine shock" to him, but he says that the same applied to News International: "There was a huge consumer boycott, there was going to be no advertising . . . I don't think they had a choice." Raised in Kidderminster in a family split between communists and passionate Labour supporters, Watson has been the MP for West Bromwich East since 2001. In the eyes of his parliamentary colleagues, he has undoubtedly been one of the heroes of the phone-hacking story – so much so, that when he speaks on the subject in the House of Commons, he is now greeted with a reverential hush. But three or four years ago, his reputation was very different: he was routinely described as a "bruiser", and known as one of a small circle of insiders that linked Gordon Brown's coterie to some of the most powerful elements in the trade unions. In 2006, he was a junior defence minister, but resigned as part of the so-called "curry-house plot": the attempt at toppling Tony Blair that placed fatal cracks in his premiership, and led to his departure the following year. Six months after Gordon Brown's arrival in Downing Street, Watson became a minister in the cabinet office with a focus on "digital engagement", though this phase of his progress did not last long. In 2009, he was falsely accused of involvement in the infamous plan to set up an unseemly website for anti-Tory political gossip known as "Red Rag", and returned from a trip to Cornwall to find his next-door neighbour upset after the latter's bins had been rooted through. This, he says, was time of "constant anxiety" and "sleepless nights": he considered standing down as an MP, but settled for returning to the backbenches. In response to the Red Rag accusations, he took legal action against the Sun and the Mail on Sunday. In short order, the Mail on Sunday apologised for the Red Rag story and paid him damages (the Sun soon followed suit), Watson joined the culture, media and sport select committee, and the Guardian broke the first stories about phone hacking at the News of the World running wider than a "rogue reporter", and big pay-offs to victims – all of which fed into a watershed select committee hearing on 21 July 2009. That day, Watson and his colleagues interviewed four key people: Stuart Kuttner, who had just resigned as managing editor of the News of the World (and who yesterday became the latest NI figure to be arrested as part of Operation Weeting), former editor Andy Coulson (by then Cameron's head of communications), the then News of the World editor Colin Myler, and the company's legal head Tom Crone (who left the company three weeks ago). The latter had tried to have Watson excluded from the hearing on account of his legal action against the Sun, which gave the proceedings an additional charge. Watson's key questions focused on the £700,000 payment NI had made to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of footballers' union the PFA, though by his own admission, he wasn't quite sure what he was doing. "When Myler and Crone first turned up, my knowledge was novice-level," he says. "I knew about three facts. But what I knew was that in any great scandal, you've got to follow the money. They were hick, amateur questions: I think I opened with: 'When did you tell Rupert Murdoch [about the payment]?' I thought that you might as well start at the top. "They said: 'Oh no – we didn't tell Rupert Murdoch.' Then it was, 'Well, who did you tell? Who authorised it?' Myler got frustrated me with me, because I came back to this four or five times. He ranted. And don't forget: Crone had already tried to get me off the committee. So at that point, I thought: 'You're rude, you've tried to remove me from this committee, you've put me under extreme pressure for a number of years – there's more to this, and I'm getting to the bottom of it.' "When Myler was so over the top . . . it was like there was a big neon light behind his head, saying, 'Dig here.'" So began two years of dogged work. In the build-up to last year's general election, the select committee's drive to investigate hacking temporarily faded – but Watson was already talking to hacking victims, dealing with "one killer insider at News International" who was secretly sending him material, and piecing together evidence already in the public domain. At one point, he and his staff went through five years of News of the World back-issues. ("You learn a lot about Kerry Katona," he says.) He was also liaising with his fellow Labour MP – and phone-hacking victim – Chris Bryant, and a small handful of journalists. There is one fascinating subtext to the whole story: Watson's claim that Brooks has long been driven to damage him, which he says dates back to his move against Blair. "I had one particular chilling conversation in 2006," he says, "when I was told that she would never forgive me for doing what I did to 'her Tony'. When I was made an assistant whip under Brown, the Sun did a story saying it was an outrageous I'd been awarded a job. Whenever I moved, there was a dig. It's painful and it's not easy, but that's the job, and the culture we operated in. It's when it's scaled up that those attack pieces take on a greater significance." How was it scaled up? "Well, there was the Red Rag week, where they ran stories for six or seven days, accusing me of lying and worse, on the basis of a story that wasn't true. And then things like . . . people coming back to me, reporting conversations. Bob Ainsworth [then Labour defence secretary] met Brooks for a lunch and said she spent 15 minutes slagging me off before they could talk about defence policy. Those things end up coming back to you." Of late, there have been reports that she told Labour insiders she would pursue Watson "for the rest of his life" – a story he dates to the Labour party conference of 2006. When the Red Rag story broke, he claims Brooks texted Labour cabinet ministers, demanding that he was sacked. At one point, he says, a senior editor at the Sun made a point of sending him a message via another Labour MP: "Tell that fat bastard Watson we know about his little planning matter." This, he says, was a reference to his application to put a conservatory on his family home in the Midlands: a typical "non-newsy, low-level thing" that played its part in making him "start to think like a conspiracy theorist". From a credible source, he has just discovered that in 2009, all of this turned completely pantomimic. "There were always people outside my flat, and I felt pursued," he says. "But then last Thursday, the home affairs correspondent of the BBC told me they had a story that they [the News of the World] hired private investigators to follow me around Labour party conference in 2009, when we were right in the middle of the first select committee enquiry. "I laughed at that, because they'd have basically followed me around drinking Guinness with a load of fat blokes. If you're an ex-minister, it's a bit of a holiday. It wouldn't have been very productive. But in all seriousness, at that point the pressure was immense. There were little conversations with people: 'We've had News International on the phone, how aggressive are you going to be on this committee? What are you going to ask?'" Who was asking that? "People who worked at No 10. People I'd worked with before. In conversations, these things were dropped in." On 10 July, his old friends at the Mail on Sunday ran a story claiming that Tony Blair had urged Brown to get him to back off News International. How much truth does he think there is in that? "Er . . . They've both denied it. But if Rupert Murdoch were to phone Blair to ask him to get me to back off, it wouldn't surprise me. They're very close." What does that mean? That he may well have done? "Well, he's denied it. Two or three people in the party have told me that happened, but I can't stand it up." Two weeks ago, Watson played his part in the select committee's questioning of James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch and Brooks, which was followed by Myler and Crone's claim that a crucial part of James Murdoch's evidence had been "mistaken". Watson pushed for him to be issued with an immediate summons to return and give evidence, but was outvoted: the committee has now written to James Murdoch seeking further explanation, and its chairman, the Tory MP John Whittingdale, says it's "very likely" that he will eventually be recalled in person. Meanwhile, the story about the targeting of Sara Payne has broken ("I didn't think it could get any lower, and it has," he tells me), there are regular stories about the Metropolitan police (their reputation, says Watson, is "in tatters") and new information about the deletion of thousands of News International emails. So how much more is there to come? "I think we're probably only about halfway through the number of revelations. I'm pretty certain there will be quite detailed stuff on other uses of covert surveillance. I suspect that emails will be the next scandal. And devices that track people moving around. That's just starting to come out." Does he expect confirmation of the targeting of 9/11 victims? "I don't know that. I want the prime minister to put pressure on as far as that's concerned, because it's internationally significant. What we know from the evidence we took in 2009 is that Glenn Mulcaire worked exclusively for the News of the World from 2001. He was on a £10,000-a-month contract. So if he was prepared to hack Milly Dowler's phone . . . you know . . . it's entirely conceivable that he would have been told to hack the phones of victims, and families of victims, of 9/11. What we need is certainty, so people can move on from there." What other things will become public? "People who aren't household names, but who are associated with people who have been the victims of high-profile crimes . . . I think there's a lot more of them to come out. Ordinary people whose lives have been turned inside out." Ten days ago, Watson said he had seen no evidence that implicated any newspaper group other than News International in phone hacking – since when, there has been news of prospective cases against Trinity Mirror, the publisher of titles including the Sunday Mirror – and the barrage of accusation and denial surrounding Piers Morgan. A copy of Morgan's diaries, I notice, is sitting on the coffee table in front of us. "I'm doing my research now," he says. "There are a lot of people on Twitter who are raising different points of fact with me. The good that I want to come from this is the industry recognising that it's got to reform and change. Everyone's got to play their role in that. And that probably requires other media groups, if there was wrongdoing, to get it out there and be honest about it." Hanging over just about everything we talk about is a slightly awkward implied presence: the politician Watson used to be, a man happy enough to play his part in New Labour's often moronic dances with the Murdoch press, and issue shrill messages either aimed at, or inspired by, the red-tops. Not for the first time, he says he's "totally ashamed" about an occasion in 2001 when he called for Kate Adie to be sacked by the BBC after she was alleged to have revealed the details of a trip by Blair to Middle East: his quote was given at the behest of Downing Street and used for a characteristic BBC-bashing splash in the Sun. He acknowledges the Blair and Brown governments' neurotic focus on "media management", and their cynical fondness for dishing out "populist messages to the newspapers". On the latter count, he again has form: in 2004, he ran Labour's infamous by-election campaign in the Birmingham seat of Hodge Hill, among whose choicest messages was: "Labour is on your side – the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers." That sounds, I tell him, like the kind of rhetoric that Labour copied from the tabloids. "It's not a great line," he says. "I don't think I'd write that again." By way of underlining another kind of repentance, he reminds me that though he voted for the Iraq war in 2003, he recently abstained when it came to the UK intervention in Libya, "because I'd never again vote for a war on the promise of a prime minister." So, he has changed. "I have changed. This has been a profoundly life-changing event for me, in many ways. It's certainly changed my politics. When I was first elected, I was a completely naive and gauche politician. You look at the pillars of the state: politics, the media, police, lawyers – they've all got their formal role, and then nestling above that is that power elite who are networked in through soft, social links, that are actually running the show. Why didn't I know that 10 years ago, and why didn't I rail against it? Why did I become part of it? I was 34. I'm 44 now. I was naive. But I'll never let that happen again

The message that the deletion of News International emails sends out News International ordered the mass deletion of emails from its servers several times. Is there anything odd about this? By Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 August 2011 16.52 BST HCL Limited has told the House of Commons home affairs select committee that since May of last year it deleted "hundreds of thousands of emails on a total of nine occasions" from News International's computer servers. It said, though, that it was aware of "nothing which appeared abnormal, untoward or inconsistent with its contractual role". Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, has indicated that he wants to know more about this. HCL is an India-based IT firm, which manages NI's email system. It doesn't hold or store the NI data; it simply manages the systems, remotely. (It sets out details of its precise responsibilities in the letter to Keith Vaz, the committee chairman.) What do companies that are hired to oversee 'live emails' do? Most companies don't need the hassle of managing their email and other computer systems. It's the sort of job that is best done by experts, and the internet means that you don't have to be in the same building – or even continent – as a computer to control it. That has created a huge business for companies offering "outsourcing" of email and other systems management. You tell them where your systems are, and they will provide an agreed level of service for you, making sure – for example – that your emails don't fill up the storage on the servers, and guaranteeing that any interruption is limited to, say, less than an hour. That function is handled from HCL's headquarters in India, where skilled staff are plentiful but pay is lower than it would be in the UK. HCL helped with in-house support of the email service, which it could do by controlling the systems via the internet. From time to time, the emails on the "live" system (going back about 15 days) would be copied off to an archive. In the past, such archives would use tape-based systems, but hard drives are cheap and commonly used now. The archiving system was provided by another company, which HCL and NI have not yet named. Can you really delete emails or do they always survive somewhere? You can delete emails from the sender's or receiver's machine, but if one of those is outside the organisation that's trying to delete the emails, deleting the "sent" version won't get rid of the "received" version. (It might make it hard to track down, of course.) Inside the organisation, the archiving system means that almost anything more than 15 days old will have been stored somewhere. In addition, newer emails will be copied onto a temporary archive as they travel through the system (either arriving, leaving or travelling through the company): this means that if there is a catastrophic failure of the email server, no work is lost. Between the 15-day archive backup and the temporary backup, it's almost impossible for an email to vanish forever. For any message, that would require reaching into backups and getting rid of the relevant part of an email conversation – not easy, since modern emails use "threading", which would indicate where part of a conversation had been deleted – or the whole of it. Modern forensic systems can map out email conversations by the thread "headers" and show any gaps or inconsistencies. So deleting an email forever requires special access to the email system, which would be flagged at a high level by the company managing the systems. Difficult? Very. Impossible? Not completely. Is it unusual to be asked to delete huge numbers of emails? HCL cites examples of what it was asked to delete: email "boxes" of users who had left (HCL decided not to as they weren't affecting the system); 200,000 "delivery failure" messages generated by misaddressed emails (these were deleted by someone else); a "public folder" of older emails by a user who "didn't need them" any more; 21,000 outgoing emails that were "stuck" in the email server; deletion of emails when moving from an older version of Microsoft Exchange to a newer one; and so on. Such requests aren't unusual, because large organisations generate and deal with large amounts of email, and things do go wrong with it – which is why you need experts looking after it. The challenge, though, is spotting when a deletion of something like a public folder is requested because it really isn't needed – and when there's some different motive. But an outsourcing company such as HCL wouldn't be expected to know that. Which may be why it has referred further questions back to NI

Poster's note: What is needed is for a "John Dean" to come forward and testify, using first hand inside knowledge, as to the criminal activities of the Murdoch empire. Such an individual may yet appear on the scene. ------------------------------ Stuart Kuttner's arrest: a statement of intent from a humbled Met It is impossible to underplay the importance of the managing editor of the News of the World for 22 years By Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 August 2011 21.23 BST Stuart Kuttner's arrest – leading to hours of questioning before he was bailed – demonstrates the determination of the now humbled Metropolitan police to comprehensively investigate the phone-hacking affair. The move against the former veteran managing editor of the News of the World may well come as no great surprise to those following the saga – not least because people who were both above him (former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson) and below him (ex-news editors Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup) have all been arrested already. But it is impossible to underplay the importance of the managing editor of the Sunday tabloid for 22 years; a man whose job it would have been to deal with budgets and any staffing and personnel issues under a succession of editors. His arrest is a clear statement that the Operation Weeting team, led by the deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, intend to be thorough. News International did its best to appear uninterested on Tuesday – with insiders arguing that Kuttner was no more than an "ex-employee" – as the Rupert Murdoch company tries to ruthlessly distance itself from its chequered past. The company also believes that it is now increasingly on top of the ongoing criminal inquiry, in that it is aware of what information has been handed over to the Weeting team. But that thinking also depends on the notion that there are no other sources of revelations – and it is far from certain how individuals under arrest, or even just pressure, will behave. A sign of what may be to come can be seen in the conflict between James Murdoch and News of the World's last editor, Colin Myler, and the title's former chief lawyer Tom Crone, none of whom have been arrested. Anxious to protect their reputation, Myler and Crone accused the junior Murdoch of providing misleading evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee last month. On Tuesday, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal looked like it was hitting back, with a page 7 report in its European edition which said that in 2000 the Sunday Mirror was involved in paying a police officer £50 in exchange for information about the arrest of Tim Blackstone, a PR professional, who was the brother of a Labour peer. High up, in the third paragraph of the already prominent report, the Journal noted that the editor of the Sunday Mirror at the time was Myler, who was also pictured in the title. The stakes for Murdoch, Myler and Crone are considerable, but for those who have been arrested, they are clearly higher still. News International may hope it can control the outcome now that so many key figures have left the company, but it is far from clear how the police investigation will develop, or where indeed it will ultimately

Jerome Taylor: Gone but not forgotten: how deleted emails can be traced The Independent Tuesday, 2 August 2011 Think your email has been wiped when you press the delete button? Well think again. Removing information from a hard drive or server may seem like a simple one-click procedure, but permanently deleting data is all but impossible without military grade software. We've all read about how police investigators can rebuild a shattered hard drive to convict paedophiles. With the correct software, forensic investigators can sift through broken data and rebuild it, a little like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Even if you mistakenly delete photos from your camera's memory card, you can often get 60 per cent of the pictures back by running the card through over-the- counter recovery software. Emails are no different. When you send someone a message it will travel through – and be stored on – a whole host of servers, from a sender's hard drive, to a company's server, through various email gateways and then on to the recipient's server and hard drive. The only way to delete such an email permanently would be to wipe it at each and every one of those steps. If investigators have access to those steps they can start to piece together the gaps. If large tranches of News International emails have been deleted it will make it harder for police to piece together what was being sent and by whom. But they should still be able to get access nonetheless. To wipe a hard drive it is possible to buy military grade deletion software which effectively wipes the slate clean of any trace of the original file. But emails – which bounce from server to server – are much harder to disappear.

Phone-hacking scandal: Stuart Kuttner is latest NoW exec to be arrested Former managing editor and one-time public face of the News of the World taken into custody By Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 August 2011 14.27 BST Stuart Kuttner, the public face of the News of the World and its most vocal public defender for 22 years, has been arrested by police investigating allegations of phone hacking and of bribing police officers to leak sensitive information. As managing editor until his resignation in July 2009, Kuttner was in charge of finances at the now-defunct tabloid. Kuttner, 71, was described at the time of his resignation by the last editor of the newspaper, Colin Myler, as a man whose "DNA is absolutely integrated into the newspaper which he has represented across the media with vigour". Kuttner reportedly did not know he was going to be taken into custody when he arrived by appointment at a police station in London on Tuesday at 11am for questioning over the phone-hacking scandal. Police from both Operation Weeting (the investigation into phone hacking) and Elveden (the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police), are understood to have arrested Kuttner, who is suffering serious health problems and recently returned from treatment in the US. Kuttner is believed to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. They are the same allegations that Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor and ex-News International chief executive, faces since her arrest last month. When Brooks faced a Commons culture, media and sport select committee hearing last month she told MPs that payments to private investigators were the responsibility of the paper's managing editor's office. Brooks admitted using private investigators during her time as editor of the tabloid between 2000 and 2003 for, she claimed, "purely legitimate" purposes. When asked whether she had ever discussed individual payments to private investigators with Kuttner, she admitted that "payments to private investigators would have gone through the managing editor's office". But, she added: "I can't remember if we ever discussed individual payments." Kuttner's role as the public face of the News of the World proved to be key to the tabloid under the editors, Rebekah Brooks – then Rebekah Wade – and her replacement, Andy Coulson, both of whom were reluctant to talk to the media. When Brooks's "Sarah's Law" campaign caused public hysteria in some towns and cities across the UK, prompting some Portsmouth residents to burn the homes of suspected paedophiles, it was Kuttner who faced the cameras. He also played a role in the paper's dealing with Sara Payne in the years after her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, was abducted and murdered in July 2000. The Guardian revealed last week that Payne's mobile phone had been targeted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire at a time when key members of the newspaper's executive staff were working hard to forge what Payne believed to be a close and genuine friendship. Kuttner was one of those who attended the funerals of her parents. No reason was given for Kuttner's departure from the newspaper two years ago, shortly before the Guardian exclusive that blew the phone-hacking story wide open. At the time, News International said he would continue to work on "specialised projects", including its Sarah's Law campaign. In February 2008, he appeared on Radio 4's Today programme and claimed the News of the World was a "watchdog" which guarded against corruption among those in positions of power. "If [the use of private investigators] happens, it shouldn't happen," he said. "It happened once at the News of the World. The reporter was fired; he went to prison. The editor resigned." He went on to argue that British journalism is "a very honourable profession" and that newspapers such as the News of the World had to act as watchdogs because "we live in an age of corrosion of politics and of public life – degradation". His role as the public face of the News of the World continued when he visited Soham in 2002, following the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, to defend the tabloid's decision to offer a reward of £150,000 in conjunction with the Sun newspaper for information that could lead to their safe return. He also appeared on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost, responding to criticism of the reward and saying the man leading the investigation into the girls' disappearance, Detective Superintendent David Hankins, had welcomed it. The managing editor was also an influential presence behind the scenes. When Gordon Brown and Tony Blair gave their first joint newspaper interview for more than 10 years to the tabloid in April 2005, Kuttner's byline was on the story, along with that of Ian Kirby, the paper's long-serving political editor. The arrest of Kuttner, who was news editor at the London Evening Standard before moving to the NoW in 1987, is the 11th by Operation Weeting police. After being questioned by police – a process that lasted 12 hours in the case of Brooks – he is expected to be released on bail until October. Others arrested and bailed have included Brooks, ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson, ex-NoW assistant editor Ian Edmondson, ex-NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, senior ex-NoW journalist James Weatherup, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, an unnamed 63-year-old man and ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman. Operation Elveden was also involved in Kuttner's arrest. Officers from Elveden are being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Met still holding Brooks laptop found in the rubbish The Independent By Matt Blake Monday, 1 August 2011 Police were last night still holding a laptop, an iPad and paperwork that were dumped two weeks ago in a bin near the riverside home of Rebekah Brooks. Two briefcases containing the items were found in a plastic sack on 18 July among rubbish in an underground car park at Chelsea Harbour in west London, where Ms Brooks lives in an apartment with her husband, Charlie. The bag was found by binmen before Mr Brooks tried to claim it back, but a security guard refused because he could not prove that he owned its contents. Instead, the guard called police who took the equipment away. Met detectives last week contacted Mr Brooks to demand passwords for the computer so they could examine its contents to establish whether it contained anything relevant to their inquiry into criminality at News International. Mr Brooks said a close friend had accidentally left the objects in the car park when he should have dropped them off and that they must have been placed in the bin by a cleaner. The incident came 24 hours after Ms Brooks, the former News International chief executive, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corrupting police officers. Mr Brooks' spokesman said yesterday that police were planning to hand back the items, although this could not be confirmed by police sources.

Phone hacking: News International mass-deleted emails, tech firm says HCL reveals News International's various requests for deletion but tells MPs it knew of nothing untoward By Patrick Wintour, political editor guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 August 2011 14.48 BST The technology firm HCL has told the home affairs select committee it was aware of the deletion of hundreds of thousands of emails at the request of News International between April 2010 and July 2011, but said it did not know of anything untoward behind the requests to delete them. HCL has sent the letter to the home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz , revealing it had been involved in nine separate episodes of email deletion. HCL says it is not the company responsible for emails on the News International system that are older than a couple of weeks. It says another unnamed vendor is responsible, but confirms it has co-operated with this vendor in deleting material. Through a letter from HCL's solicitors Stuart Benson, the firm says: "My client is aware of nothing which appeared abnormal, untoward or inconsistent with its contractual role." It adds: "It is entirely for News International, the police and your committee as to whether there was any other agenda or subtext when issues of deletion arose and that is a matter on which my client cannot comment and something you will no doubt wish to explore direct with News International." It stressed that since it was not the company that stored News International's data "any suggestion or allegation that it has deleted material held on behalf of News International is without foundation". HCL identified three sets of email deletions in April 2010, including a deletion of a public folder of a live email system that "was owned by a user who no longer needed the emails". A further 200,000 emails stuck in an outbox were deleted in May 2010 to restore email functionality. In September 2010 a further pruning of historic emails occurred to help stabilise the email archival system, which had been having "frequent outages" since November 2009. In January 2011 HCL was asked about its ability to truncate a particular database in the email archival systems. HCL "answered in the negative and suggested assistance from the third party vendor". HCL stated no reason as to why it was unable to assist. In February 2011 emails were deleted in an older version of Microsoft. Finally, in July 2011 HCL helped delete emails from the live system as relocation errors had occurred during migration from one system to the other. HCL said it did not have the resources to review every set of deletions. Separately, a firm of solicitors drawn into the News International phone-hacking scandal is expected to reply shortly to the home affairs select committee as to how it came to write a key letter to the newspaper group that was then used by the company to contend that phone hacking had not been widespread. The firm, Harbottle and Lewis, is consulting the Metropolitan police before deciding how to reply to requests from the select committee to spell out how it came to write a letter taken to mean that only one reporter was aware of phone hacking at the paper. The New York Times reported at the weekend that the letter sent by Harbottle and Lewis to the culture, media and sport select committee was redrafted more than once. The firm had been hired to review the email of the tabloid's royal reporter, Clive Goodman, who had pleaded guilty to hacking the mobile phone messages of royal household staff members. The letter said "no reasonable evidence" had been found that senior editors knew about the reporter's "illegal actions". The New York Times alleges that the letter sent to the culture select committee in May 2007 was constructed to give the company a clean bill of health over phone hacking, but was silent on the issue of payments to the police. The home affairs select committee asked: • "What was the exact remit given to Harbottle and Lewis when it was instructed by News International in 2007?" • "The contents of emails and information held in the file you mentioned in your letter." • "What advice was provided from Harbottle and Lewis to News International in 2007 following examination of the emails and information?" • "Why the evidence you had in 2007 that was later examined by Lord McDonald in 2011 was not acted upon sooner

http://gizadeathstar.com/2011/08/tidbit-nixon-testimony-released/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GizaDeathStar+%28Giza+Death+Star%29&utm_content=FaceBook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Honor

The euro crisis will give Germany the empire it’s always dreamed of The Telegrah By Peter Oborne Politics Last updated: July 21st, 2011 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100098260/this-crisis-will-give-germany-the-empire-its-always-dreamed-of/ Many of the biggest losers from the Wall Street Crash were not those greedy speculators who bought at the very top of the market. There was also a category of investor who recognised that stocks had become badly overvalued, sold their shares in the summer or autumn of 1928, then waited patiently as the market surged onwards to ever more improbable highs. When the crash came in October 1929, they felt thoroughly vindicated, and waited for the dust to settle. The following spring, when share prices had consolidated at around a third lower than the all-time high reached the previous year, they reinvested the family savings, probably feeling a bit smug. Then, on April 17, 1930, the market embarked on a second and even more shattering period of decline, by the end of which shares were worth barely 10 per cent of their value at their peak. Those prudent investors who had seen the Wall Street Crash coming were wiped out. There was one crucial message from yesterday’s shambolic and panicky eurozone summit: today’s predicament contains terrifying parallels with the situation that prevailed 80 years ago, although the problem lies (at this stage, at least) with the debt rather than the equity markets. After the catastrophe of 2008, many believed and argued – as others did in 1929 – that it was a one-off event, which could readily be put right by the ingenuity of experts. The truth is sadly different. The aftermath of that financial debacle, like the economic downturn after 1929, falls into a special category. Most recessions are part of the normal, healthy functioning of any market economy – a good example is the downturn of the late 1980s. But in rare cases, they are far more sinister, because their underlying cause is a structural imbalance which cannot be solved by conventional means. Such recessions, which tend to associated with catastrophic financial events, are dangerous because they herald a long period of economic dislocation and collapse. Their consequences stretch deep into the realm of politics and social life. Indeed, the 1929 crash sparked a decade of economic failure around much of the world, helping bring the Weimar Republic to its knees and easing the way for the rise of German fascism. So we live in a very troubling period. The situation is very bad in the United States, where ratings agencies are threatening the once unimaginable step of downgrading Treasury bonds, and Congress is consumed by partisan wrangling over raising the nation’s debt limit. But it is desperate in Europe, because the situation has been exacerbated by a piece of economic dogma. The faith of leading European politicians and bankers in monetary union, a system of financial government whose origins can be traced back to the set of temporary political circumstances in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, and which was brought to bear without serious economic analysis, is essentially irrational. Indeed, in many ways, the euro bears comparison to the gold standard. Back in 1929, politicians and central bankers assumed that the convertibility of national currencies into gold (defined by the economist John Maynard Keynes as a “barbaric relic”) was a law of nature, like gravity. European politicians have developed the same superstitious attachment to the single currency. They are determined to persist with it, no matter what suffering it causes, or however brutal its economic and social consequences. There is only one way of sustaining this policy, as the International Monetary Fund argued ahead of yesterday’s summit in Brussels. Admittedly, the IMF should not be regarded as an impartial arbiter. Theoretically, its responsibilities stretch around the globe, but it has become the plaything of a reactionary European elite, of whom its latest managing director, Christine Lagarde (a dreadful and backward-looking choice), is the latest manifestation. However, the IMF was entirely correct when it pointed out that the only conceivable salvation for the eurozone is to impose greater fiscal integration among member states. This advice was finally being taken yesterday – and it is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the decision which European leaders seemed last night to be reaching. By authorising a huge expansion in the bail-out fund that is propping up the EU’s peripheral members (largely in order to stop the contagion spreading to Italy and Spain), the eurozone has taken the decisive step to becoming a fiscal union. So long as the settlement is accepted by national parliaments, yesterday will come to be seen as the witching hour after which Europe will cease to be, except vestigially, a collection of nation states. It will have one economic government, one currency, one foreign policy. This integration will be so complete that taxpayers in the more prosperous countries will be expected to pay for the welfare systems and pension plans of failing EU states. This is the final realisation of the dream that animated the founders of the Common Market more than half a century ago – which is one reason why so many prominent Europeans have privately welcomed the eurozone catastrophe, labelling it a “beneficial crisis”. David Cameron and George Osborne have both indicated that they, too, welcome this fundamental change in the nature and purpose of the European project. The markets have rallied strongly, hailing what is being seen as the best chance of a resolution to the gruelling and drawn-out crisis. It is conceivable that yesterday’s negotiations may indeed save the eurozone – but it is worth pausing to consider the consequences of European fiscal union. First, it will mean the economic destruction of most of the southern European countries. Indeed, this process is already far advanced. Thanks to their membership of the eurozone, peripheral countries such as Greece and Portugal – and to an increasing extent Spain and Italy – are undergoing a process of forcible deindustrialisation. Their economic sovereignty has been obliterated; they face a future as vassal states, their role reduced to the one enjoyed by the European colonies of the 19th and early 20th centuries. They will provide cheap labour, raw materials, agricultural produce and a ready market for the manufactured goods and services provided by the far more productive and efficient northern Europeans. Their political leaders will, like the hapless George Papandreou of Greece, lose all political legitimacy, becoming local representatives of distant powers who are forced to implement economic programmes from elsewhere in return for massive financial subventions. While these nations relapse into pre-modern economic systems, Germany is busy turning into one of the most dynamic and productive economies in the world. Despite the grumbling, for the Germans, the bail-outs are worth every penny, because they guarantee a cheap outlet for their manufactured goods. Yesterday’s witching hour of the European Union means that Germany has come very close to realising Bismarck’s dream of an economic empire stretching from central Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean. History has seen many attempts to unify Europe, from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons and Napoleon. This attempt is likely to fail, too. Indeed, a paradox is at work here. The founders of the European Union were driven by a vision of a peaceful new world after a century of war. Yet nothing could have been more calculated to create civil disorder and national resistance than yesterday’s demented move to salvage the single currency.

Lawyers 'furious' over criticism in hacking scandal Law firm to 'explain its position' to police after Murdoch accuses it of making a 'massive mistake' The Independent By James Hanning and Matt Chorley Sunday, 31 July 2011 Senior lawyers at royal solicitors Harbottle & Lewis are "furious" at the way they have been blamed by Rupert Murdoch and others in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, The Independent on Sunday has learned. They will meet the Metropolitan Police to explain their position "in the next few days". Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, said the prominent London law firm had made a "massive mistake" when it gave the publishers of the News of the World a clean bill of health as to whether there was more illegality to be uncovered at the company at that time. It is believed that Mr Murdoch also criticised the lawyers in a private meeting with Milly Dowler's family earlier this month, when he apologised for the newspaper hacking their dead daughter's mobile phone and deleting text messages, giving the family false hope that she might still be alive. Harbottle & Lewis declared in May 2007 that there was no "reasonable evidence" that senior News International staff knew about the illegal activities of former royal reporter Clive Goodman. They had been called in by the Murdochs and asked to examine as many as 2,500 emails sent by the reporter, who was jailed in January 2007 for hacking phones belonging to aides of Prince William. News International (NI) has used the Harbottle letter of exoneration as a shield to fend off allegations that it covered up the widespread nature of illegal activities which continued to be practised by News of the World staff. It later emerged that the emails did contain evidence of illegal payments to the police, though seemingly not of hacking. When NI recently obtained a second opinion on the emails from Lord Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, he concluded within minutes that there was possible evidence of criminal activity and advised NI to call the police. James Murdoch later told MPs that they relied on the letter to "push back" against fresh allegations of hacking. The Murdoch claims have infuriated Harbottle & Lewis so much that some senior figures at the firm are understood to have discussed taking legal action for defamation. The firm was initially barred from explaining its position because of client confidentiality, but NI later lifted this restriction. Harbottle will now speak to the police and the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee. A source close to the firm confirmed it "actively asked to be released from the obligations of privilege". Yesterday, The New York Times (NYT) reported that both NI and Harbottle were clearly aware of the contents of the emails when the exculpatory letter was written. According to the paper, in one email Clive Goodman warns that those involved could "go to prison for this". Despite this, the Harbottle letter makes no reference to payments to the police. The letter was commissioned after a threat from Goodman to sue NI for unfair dismissal on the grounds that senior executives knew about the phone-hacking. There was, according to The NYT, citing sources familiar with the incidents, "huge anxiety" about the precise wording. NI urged the law firm to write a letter giving it a clean bill of health in the strongest possible terms. Jon Chapman, NI's head of legal affairs, reportedly rejected two earlier drafts as being insufficiently broad. One person familiar with the correspondence is reported to have said that the lawyers involved seemed to struggle to find language that said the review had found no evidence of wrongdoing. Another Harbottle source added: "If we made any mistakes, we will hold our hands up, but we are extremely keen to protect our reputation and we will vigorously challenge any suggestion that we were in any sort of cahoots with News International." Tomorrow, Labour leader Ed Miliband will attempt to step up pressure on the coalition about its role in the hacking scandal. Mr Miliband will send letters to David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Hunt, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable asking about the Government's links to News International, the handling of the BSkyB bid and the employment of Andy Coulson. "The signs are that David Cameron still does not get it," said Ivan Lewis, Labour's culture spokesman. "A tangled web of their own making will not go away until they and their Cabinet colleagues give full and frank answers to legitimate questions." But Labour's hopes of further capitalising on the scandal appear hampered by the release of details of a string of meetings and social events attended by senior party figures with News International bosses. Mr Miliband met NI editors and executives, including the former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, 12 times after the general election. In all, Labour frontbenchers, including Douglas Alexander, Tessa Jowell and Shaun Woodward, met News International in some form 60 times since May 2010.

Miliband 'went to News International parties' The Independent By Sam Lister Saturday, 30 July 2011 Labour leader Ed Miliband attended a string of News International parties and held talks with former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, records released today showed. Mr Miliband also had a series of meetings with the editors of the News of the World and the Sun, Labour confirmed. The party leader met Mrs Brooks, who was forced to quit two weeks ago over the phone hacking scandal, on September 15 for a "general discussion". Sun editor Dominic Mohan was also at the London meeting but held separate discussions with Mr Miliband in February as well as at Labour's party conference last autumn. Mr Miliband attended the News International annual summer reception in 2010 and this year as well as the organisation's party at the Labour conference. Two days before it emerged the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander attended a social event in the Cotswolds with Mrs Brooks and Mr Hinton as well as Richard Wallace from the Daily Mirror. The party was hosted by Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth and her husband Matthew Freud in Burford on Saturday, July 2. Mr Alexander also met the couple in London at a "social" event on December 20, the document reveals. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward met Mrs Brooks on Boxing Day. It emerged earlier this month that Prime Minister David Cameron, who succeed Mr Woodward as MP for Witney after he quit the Tories and defected to Labour, also had a social engagement with Mrs Brooks on December 26. Mr Woodward also met up with Mrs Brooks in France on June 11 this year and visited Mr Hinton on October 9 in the United States of America. Tessa Jowell, shadow Olympics minister, also attended the party although she declared the date as July 3. The bash, held at Burford Priory, reportedly started on Saturday evening and continued until noon the next day. Ms Jowell also met the couple at social events in London and Oxfordshire on December 1, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Ed Miliband had previously released a list of the meetings he had held since taking the top job last September but today's records date back to May and cover all the party's senior politicians. They show Mr Miliband has attended more than 50 meetings or receptions with proprietors, editors and senior media executives, including senior figures from the BBC, ITV, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, The Times and The Guardian. It follows the release by Government of all ministerial contacts with senior media executives. That showed Chancellor George Osborne had met executives of News Corporation companies on 16 occasions since the coalition Government took power. It also emerged that News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was the first senior media figure to meet Jeremy Hunt after he was appointed Culture Secretary in May last year - though this was before Mr Hunt was given responsibility for deciding on the failed BSkyB bid. PA

FBI’s News Corp. 9/11 Probe Moves Forward By Patricia Hurtado, David Glovin and Greg Farrell - Jul 29, 2011 Bloomberg The FBI is in the initial stage of a probe of News Corp. (NWSA) as investigators evaluate whether U.S. charges can be brought over claims employees hacked into a rival’s website and sought access to phone records of victims of the 9/11 attacks, a person familiar with the matter said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation will let Scotland Yard take the lead on a parallel investigation already under way in Britain, said two law-enforcement officials familiar with the matter. The bureau isn’t planning to mount an aggressive investigation into allegations that News Corp.’s payments to U.K. police officers a decade ago violated a U.S. overseas bribery law, said the officials, who didn’t want to be identified because they aren’t allowed to discuss the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation. “If the conduct largely relates to payments made to the U.K. police, it is quite probable that the U.S. would defer to the strong enforcement regime in the U.K.,” said Angela Burgess, a partner at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York. “If there are U.S. victims or a greater U.S. nexus, a broader U.S. investigation is more likely.” In the U.S., Manhattan federal prosecutors have joined the inquiry into allegations that News Corp.’s American marketing arm hacked a password-protected website at Floorgraphics Inc., an attorney for Floorgraphics said. FBI Questions William Isaacson, a lawyer at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP who represented Floorgraphics at a 2009 civil trial against News America Marketing In-Store Services, said two Manhattan prosecutors participated in his July 18 interview by the FBI. In its lawsuit, Floorgraphics, now based in Hamilton, New Jersey, claimed News America employees hacked into its website in 2003 and 2004. “They wanted to know what the case was about,” Isaacson said in a telephone interview. One of the prosecutors identified by Isaacson works in the office’s public-corruption unit, while the other works in the complex-fraud unit, according to a personnel directory in the federal courthouse in Manhattan. Allegations of phone hacking at the now-closed News of the World newspaper in the U.K. have led to the arrest of at least 10 people, including Rebekah Brooks, a former chief executive officer of News Corp.’s News International unit, and ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron’s press chief until January. Scandal Fallout The furor led to News Corp.’s dropping a takeover bid for British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and prompted Cameron to start an inquiry. The FBI is pursuing a claim that News Corp. reporters unsuccessfully tried to get a former New York police officer to obtain phone records of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in Manhattan. U.S. investigators are attempting to identify any victims, evaluating whether there is enough evidence to bring any federal charges and if the alleged crimes in the U.S. took place too far in the past to be prosecuted, said the person familiar with the probe related to the Sept. 11 attacks, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t public. The probe into the illegal phone records access is in the most preliminary stage, the person said. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch told U.K. lawmakers last week that he has “seen no evidence of these allegations.” News Corp.’s New York Post told employees to retain files related to any attempts at unauthorized access to third-party data, or illegal payments to government officials in an effort to obtain information, according to a memorandum reproduced on The Poynter Institute’s Romenesko Web site. Federal Probe Teri Everett, a spokeswoman for News Corp., didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the memorandum or the federal probe of the company. Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, declined to comment on a U.S. investigation. Alisa Finelli, a Justice Department spokeswoman, also declined to comment. Bharara’s office regularly investigates allegations of white-collar crime that cut across state and international borders. Suzanne Halpin, a spokeswoman for Wilton, Connecticut-based News America, declined to immediately comment on the participation of Manhattan prosecutors in the Floorgraphics probe. Isaacson said he fielded questions from two Manhattan assistant U.S. attorneys and an FBI agent in what appeared to be a preliminary inquiry. His phone interview with the prosecutors and FBI agent came on the same day that press reports appeared about the Floorgraphics lawsuit, he said. Floorgraphics Lawsuit In its lawsuit, which was tried in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, Floorgraphics accused News America Marketing of stealing business by hacking into its secure website 11 times from October 2003 to January 2004 and through other means. At the time, Floorgraphics sold floor advertising in grocery stores. At the trial, a News America Marketing lawyer acknowledged that his client’s computers were used to access Floorgraphics’ site. Six days into the trial, News America Marketing entered into what its lawyer called a “series of business arrangements” with Floorgraphics, part of which involved a $29.5 million payment and an agreement to buy Floorgraphics’ assets, according to court records. Floorgraphics agreed to dismiss the case. “This site was available to hundreds, if not thousands, of Floorgraphics retailers, representatives of consumer packaged goods companies and Floorgraphics employees,” Halpin, the News America Marketing spokeswoman, said in a statement last week. ‘Employee Movement’ “There is considerable employee movement within this industry, and we believe it was someone with an authorized password” who was using a News America Marketing computer, she said. “News America Marketing condemns such conduct, which is in violation of the standards of our company.” This month, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg for New Jersey called for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the possibility that payments to U.K. police could be considered a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids U.S. companies from paying bribes to officials of foreign governments. On July 15, Holder confirmed the existence of an “ongoing investigation.” ‘A Stretch’ Some lawyers question whether the law, used primarily to punish bribes to obtain business, would apply to paying police officers for information. “The FCPA is not a global statute governing all corrupt activity in the world,” said Steven Peikin, a former federal prosecutor now at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. “It would seem to me that if you’re paying off a police official to obtain information, that would be a stretch,” he said. “It’s not the heartland of conduct that the FCPA was intended to reach.” The Floorgraphics civil case is Floorgraphics v. News America Marketing In-Store Services Inc, 04-cv-03500, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton). To contact the reporters on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado@bloomberg.net; David Glovin in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net; Greg Farrell in New York at gregfarrell@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net .

Shake up at News of the World Sean Hoare quits Sunday People to join Singh By Jessica Hodgson Media Guardian, Tuesday 5 June 2001 12.54 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/jun/05/thepeople.newsoftheworld News of the World editor Rebekah Wade has ordered a shake-up of the newsroom. Phil Taylor, the news editor who made a rare picture byline appearance in last week's paper with an exclusive story about TV star Michael Barrymore, has become associate editor. He will have a new role as the paper's Mr Fix It - essentially in charge of the paper's buy-ups and special investigations. It is believed he clinched the deal after rivals tried to poach him. Neville Thurlbeck, the investigations news editor, has been promoted to news editor while veteran Greg Miskiw, responsible for the "Sophie Tapes" and "For Sarah" campaign, also gets a promotion to become assistant editor of news and investigations. Showbiz columnist Rav Singh has been promoted to assistant editor - it is believed he has upped his salary to £100,000-plus after the Express tried to poach him. Mr Singh, who used to work at the Sun's Bizarre desk, is expanding his team after poaching Sean Hoare, the showbusiness editor of the Sunday People.

July 29, 2011, 5:13 pm New York Post Employees Told to ‘Preserve’ Documents The New York Times By JEREMY W. PETERS Employees of The New York Post, Rupert Murdoch’s irreverent and hard-charging city tabloid, were told Friday to keep any documents they may have that pertain to the kind of illegal activity that has led to numerous arrests and a widening investigation at the News Corporation’s British newspapers. The paper’s editor, Col Allan, told employees in an e-mail late Friday afternoon that the instructions were being made out of an abundance of caution, not because any illegal acts had been uncovered. Lawyers for News Corporation asked that employees be told they should preserve any such documents or files because of the investigations in London, he said. “As we watched the news in the U.K. over the last few weeks, we knew that as a News Corporation tabloid, we would be looked at more closely. So this is not unexpected,” he wrote. “I am sorry for any inconvenience caused by this directive. However, given what has taken place in London, it is necessary for us to take this step.” News Corporation officials would not comment on the matter. Though Mr. Allan and News Corporation lawyers were adamant that the directive did not indicate that anyone at The Post had broken the law, the move shows just how concerned the company is that it could face a wide-ranging investigation in the United States. The notice appears to be limited to The Post. Journalists at Mr. Murdoch’s other New York-based newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, did not receive similar instructions. The memo from Col Allan read: By now, you have received an email from News Corporation’s in-house legal counsel to preserve and maintain documents. All New York Post employees have been asked to do this in light of what has gone on in London at News of the World, and not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful. As we watched the news in the U.K. over the last few weeks, we knew that as a News Corporation tabloid, we would be looked at more closely. So this is not unexpected. I want to stress that your full and absolute cooperation is necessary and you are expected to comply with this direction from our legal department. At the same time, please know we understand and take very seriously your concerns over the protection of legitimate journalistic sources. While we have instituted this hold, we do intend to protect from disclosure all legitimate and lawful journalistic sources in accordance with the law. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused by this directive. However, given what has taken place in London, it is necessary for us to take this step. Let me say how grateful I am for the hard work and terrific reporting all of you do here each and every day. The New York Post has a proud history. We will also have a proud future. Thank you for your professionalism and full cooperation in this matter. The memo from News Corp. Legal read: Dear New York Post Colleagues, As you have undoubtedly seen, there have been press accounts of inquiries into whether employees or agents of News Corporation or its subsidiaries have (a) accessed telephone and/or other personal data of third-parties without authorization, and/or ( made unlawful payments to government officials in order to obtain information. As you also know, these stem from the actions at The News of the World in London, as well as unsourced, unsubstantiated reports in one London tabloid. Starting today, all employees must preserve and maintain all documents and information that are related in any way to the above mentioned issues. Please know we are sending this notice not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful. However, given what has taken place in London, we believe that taking this step will help to underscore how seriously we are taking this matter. Here is what is required of you: Any documents pertaining to unauthorized retrieval of phone or personal data, to payments for information to government officials, or that is related in any way to these issues, must be retained. Please note that the term “documents” should be construed in its broadest sense, including but not limited to: written material, graphs, charts, files, e-mail, text messages, instant messages, any content in social media, voicemail, tape recordings, microfiche, video and film, handwritten notes, draft documents, memoranda, calendars, card files, appointment books, and the like whether in hard copy or on computer databases, hard drives, desk tops, laptops, thumb drives, disks, backup tapes, or any other storage medium, and regardless of whether the document is located on a company-issued or personal device. It also includes all copies of the same document. The term “related in any way” should also be applied broadly. If you have any doubt whether a document should be preserved, you should err on the side of preserving it. You do not need to collect relevant documents. However, if relevant documents are destroyed or otherwise made unavailable, it may prevent the New York Post from protecting its interests and subject you and individual officers or employees of the New York Post to severe sanctions. Any destruction of such documents or information, inadvertent or otherwise, should be reported to the Legal Department. In sum, effective immediately, and until further notice, you and your staff must comply with the following directive: do not destroy, discard, alter or change any potentially relevant documents as defined above, even if such documents or materials would otherwise be routinely discarded or destroyed in the ordinary course of your business. Finally, we understand your concerns over the protection of legitimate journalistic sources. We intend to protect from disclosure all legitimate and lawful journalistic sources in accordance with the law. If you are unsure of the nature or extent of your responsibilities, or if you are aware of additional personnel to whom this memorandum should be sent, please contact Genie Gavenchak in News Corporation’s Legal Department.

July 29, 2011 2007 Letter Clearing Tabloid Is Under Scrutiny The New York Times By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr. LONDON — When a Parliamentary committee first confronted The News of the World with charges of phone hacking in 2007, the paper’s owners produced a reassuring, one-paragraph letter from a prominent London law firm named Harbottle & Lewis. The firm had been hired to review the e-mail of the tabloid’s royal reporter, who had pleaded guilty to hacking the cellphone messages of royal household staff members. The letter said senior editors were not aware of the reporter’s “illegal actions,” which helped convince lawmakers that hacking was not endemic at the tabloid. That letter has taken on new significance since it emerged in recent weeks that those e-mails, while not pointing to wider knowledge of hacking, did contain indications of payoffs to the police by journalists in exchange for information. The circumstances behind the writing of that single paragraph are being examined as part of criminal and Parliamentary inquiries into whether the tabloid’s parent company, News International, the British subsidiary of the News Corporation, engineered a four-year cover-up of information suggesting criminal wrongdoing. In interviews, two people familiar with both the contents of the e-mails and the discussions between the executives and the law firm provided new details about the possible payoffs. The two people also indicated that both News International and the firm were aware of the information when the reassuring letter was written, yet defined their task as only addressing the hacking issue. In one e-mail, from 2003, the paper’s royal reporter, Clive Goodman, complained to the top editor, Andy Coulson, about a management push to cut back on cash payments to sources, saying he needed to pay his contacts in the Scotland Yard unit that protects the royal family. In another e-mail, Mr. Goodman said that he did not want to go into detail about cash payments because everyone involved could “go to prison for this,” according to the two people who described the e-mail’s contents. The two people also said that in the exchange of e-mails, Mr. Goodman requested permission from Mr. Coulson to pay £1,000 for a classified Green Book directory, which had been stolen by a police officer in the protection unit. The book contains the private phone numbers of the queen, the royal family and their closest friends and associates — a potentially useful tool for hacking. In the years since the letter was written, various revelations have confirmed that phone hacking was endemic at the tabloid. Evidence disclosed in the past several weeks of widespread payoffs to the police have given rise to a second, and potentially more potent, front in the scandal. Both Harbottle & Lewis and News International took notice of the e-mails to and from Mr. Goodman containing those initial indications of payoffs in 2007, according to the two people knowledgeable about the events. News International’s chief lawyer set them aside for a second look, and they were among the e-mails retained in the files of the law firm. Yet they were not turned over to the police until last month, and no hint of their existence made its way into the firm’s single-paragraph letter four years ago. The two people familiar with internal discussions between News International and the firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the criminal investigations, said company executives urged Harbottle & Lewis to write a letter giving News International a clean bill of health in the strongest possible terms. The firm had been hired to defend the paper after Mr. Goodman sued, claiming his dismissal over phone hacking was unfair because it was widely known that others were doing it, too. The firm was asked to examine 2,500 e-mails involving Mr. Goodman to defend against his claim that superiors knew about his hacking. The correspondence between the company and the firm over framing the letter does not make reference to the e-mails on police payments, a source familiar with the exchanges said, but it does reflect “huge anxiety” about the wording. The final version of the letter, dated May 29, 2007, sent by the firm’s managing partner to Jon Chapman, who was head of the legal department for News International, read: “I can confirm that we did not find anything in those e-mails which appeared to us to be reasonable evidence that Clive Goodman’s illegal actions were known about and supported by both or either of Andy Coulson, the editor, and Neil Wallis, the deputy editor, and/or that Ian Edmondson, the news editor, and others were carrying out similar procedures.” The company rejected earlier drafts by Harbottle & Lewis that were not as broad, according to the two people with access to the correspondence. One of them said that lawyers on both sides seemed to struggle to find language that said the review had found no evidence of wrongdoing. “They wanted to bury those e-mails, and they wanted Harbottle & Lewis to give them a letter to indicate there was nothing incriminating in the file,” said one of the people who reviewed the exchanges. “They knew exactly what they were doing.” But a former News International official familiar with the matter said that Mr. Chapman was expected to testify to a Parliamentary committee that the discussion over the letter had nothing to do with the e-mails suggesting police payoffs and only with finding a way for the firm to say it had looked into Mr. Goodman’s allegations about hacking and had found no evidence. The former official noted that neither Mr. Chapman nor the firm’s lawyer who reviewed the e-mails are criminal attorneys. Mr. Chapman is expected to testify that while he noticed the e-mails in question, he did not realize that paying the police was a criminal offense, the former official said. He is expected to testify that Mr. Goodman’s e-mail mentioning prison seemed to him to be in jest. Like Mr. Chapman, Harbottle & Lewis has been asked to give its account to a select committee of Parliament, and it has said it will cooperate as long as the police say its participation will not harm the criminal investigation. News International recently released the firm from its client confidentiality obligations so it can talk to the authorities. While it is unclear what the firm’s opinion on the e-mails was in 2007, client confidentiality would have prevented it from unilaterally reporting them to authorities. Mr. Goodman, who was rearrested this month on suspicion of paying police officers for information, did not return a call requesting comment. Lawyers for Mr. Coulson, who was arrested this month on suspicion of conspiring to hack phones and bribe the police for information, have said that they have told him not to answer questions in the midst of a criminal investigation. News International discovered the e-mails indicating police payoffs as it was responding to lawsuits filed by phone hacking victims and inquiries from the police. As the company assembled its defense team, a law firm it hired retained Lord Ken Macdonald to advise the News Corporation board on whether the e-mails were evidence of a crime and needed to be turned over to the police. Mr. Macdonald had overseen the office that prosecuted Mr. Goodman in 2006. But back then, he had not seen the trove of e-mails reviewed by Harbottle & Lewis, since they were never reported to the authorities. Once Mr. Macdonald saw the e-mails in May, it took him between “about three minutes, maybe five minutes” to conclude that it was “blindingly obvious” that they were evidence of criminal wrongdoing, he told a select committee of Parliament. Mr. Macdonald advised the News Corporation board to immediately turn the e-mails over to the police, a move that set off the current investigation into the payments made to the police by journalists at The News of the World. The company then trawled through other documents, including its cash authorization records, and found 130,000 pounds’ worth of payments to a group of officers over several years, according to officials with knowledge of the inquiry. Included within those records was documentation of a thousand-pound cash withdrawal around the date of Mr. Goodman’s e-mail concerning his purchase of the Green Book from a police officer, according to one person with knowledge of the investigation. Ravi Somaiya contributed reporting.

Martin Hickman: This marks an explosive development in the scandal The Independent Analysis Saturday, 30 July 2011 The expansion of Operation Tuleta from a "scoping exercise" to a full-blown investigation will open a new and explosive instalment in the phone-hacking scandal. For a start, detectives are likely to investigate more egregious news-gathering techniques than phone hacking: computer hacking, burglary and "blagging" personal data. Some of the targets of these techniques had more to lose than their privacy. While vile and disgusting, the alleged eavesdropping of Milly Dowler, war widows and Sara Payne did not endanger life and limb. The alleged targeting of ex-intelligence officers with knowledge of IRA informers could have. Tuleta may also draw other titles and newspaper groups into the scandal. It is likely to focus on the activities of Jonathan Rees, a private detective who worked for News International and the Mirror Group. While police investigated Mr Rees over the murder of his business partner Danny Morgan in 1987, they bugged his office and recorded his conversations with reporters. Mr Rees was acquitted of murder in March, but soon after fresh claims were made about his work for newspapers. Several of his reported victims such as Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson asked police if they had been targeted. That pressure may have persuaded Scotland Yard that the best way to end this scandal once and for all is to investigate all the "dark arts", not just phone hacking.

New police investigation will probe computer hacking The Independent By Matt Blake, Crime Correspondent Saturday, 30 July 2011 Scotland Yard is to expand its inquiries into illegal news-gathering techniques at News International by launching a full-scale investigation into computer hacking, The Independent understands. In the latest twist in the long-running phone-hacking scandal, the Metropolitan Police is assembling a new squad of detectives to look into claims that the News of the World stole secrets from the computer hard drives of public figures, journalists and intelligence officers. Since March, officers have been carrying out Operation Tuleta, a scoping exercise into the covert use of "Trojan horse" computer viruses – which allow hackers to take control of third-party computers – following allegations made in a BBC Panorama programme. Now, following complaints from public figures who believe they were targeted by the private investigator Jonathan Rees, who worked for the NOTW and other newspapers, the Met is to scale up its inquiries. So far only two full-scale investigations, Operation Weeting into alleged phone hacking by the NOTW private investigator Glen Mulcaire, and Operation Elveden into the NOTW's alleged bribery of police officers. Operation Tuleta is being staffed by detectives from the Specialist Crime Directorate. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "Since January 2011 the MPS has received a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy which fall outside the remit of Operation Weeting, including computer hacking. Some aspects of this operation will move forward to a formal investigation. There will be a new team reporting DAC Sue Akers. The formation of that team is yet to take place." A Scotland Yard source told The Independent: "This started as an exercise to investigate the very serious allegations made by Panorama and enough evidence of criminality exists for there to be a successful prosecution. We understand that the hacking of computers by the NOTW covers a much wider period than the three months initially alleged by the BBC programme." The new investigation threatens to drag other newspaper groups into the scandal. In March, Panorama alleged that, in 2006, Alex Marunchak, then the editor of the Irish edition of the NOTW, hired a private investigator to hack into the computer of a former British Army intelligence officer, Ian Hurst. It was alleged that emails and documents from Mr Hurst's hard drive were hacked, along with correspondence between him and a number of people including IRA agents. Among those whose emails were allegedly stolen is Greg Harkin, a former journalist on The Independent. According to the BBC, the Sunday tabloid was trying to find out if Mr Hurst or Mr Harkin knew the whereabouts of Freddie Scappaticci, the man alleged to have been "Stakeknife", the British Army's most important undercover agent in the IRA. In 2003, newspapers were speculating about the identity of Stakeknife and several claimed he was Mr Scappaticci, who became the IRA's No 1 assassination target and was placed under a secret protection scheme. A year later, Mr Hurst and Mr Harkin wrote a book about Stakeknife with more information about his alleged identity and activities within the IRA. Because of concern about the safety of Mr Scappaticci – who has always denied being the spy – a High Court injunction prohibited the publication of details of his appearance and whereabouts. Any computer hacking by the NOTW could have broken the injunction and, potentially, endangered the safety of Mr Scappaticci and his British handlers. Mr Marunchak has denied any involvement in computer hacking. Under the terms of the Computer Misuse Act 1990, computer hacking is a more serious crime than phone hacking. "Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences" can carry heavy fines and a jail sentence of up to five years. A spokesman for News International declined to comment. How it is done A "Trojan horse" is a virus that infiltrates a computer and allows the attacker to remove the entire contents of hard drives, steal passwords and read emails. It most commonly masquerades as valuable and useful software available for download on the internet or through an email link. The attacker often disguises it in an email pretending to be from someone the victim knows. Once the computer is infected, the attacker has complete control and can turn it on or off remotely from anywhere in the world. It will scour the owner's hard drive for any personal and financial information before sending it back to a thief's database.

Judge orders Nixon’s secret Watergate testimony unsealed By Reuters Friday, July 29th, 2011 -- 2:10 pm WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 36 years later, the secret grand jury testimony of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal was ordered released on Friday by a federal judge because of its significance in American history. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a request by historian Stanley Kutler, who has written several books about Nixon and Watergate, and others to unseal the testimony given on June 23 and 24 in 1975. Nixon was questioned about the political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington. The scandal caused Nixon to leave office on August 9, 1974, the only resignation of aU.S. president. The scandal also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and imprisonment of a number of his top officials. Lamberth ruled in the 15-page opinion that the special circumstances, especially the undisputed historical interest in Nixon's testimony, far outweighed the need to keep the records secret. Grand jury proceedings typically remain secret. "Watergate significance in American history cannot be overstated," Lamberth wrote, adding that the scandal continues to attract both scholarly and public interest. "The disclosure of President Nixon's grand jury testimony would likely enhance the existing historical record, foster scholarly discussion and improve the public's understanding of a significant historical event," he said. The Obama administration's Justice Department had opposed releasing Nixon's testimony, citing the privacy interests of individuals named in the testimony, among other reasons. But Lamberth said those privacy interests were minimal. He said Nixon died 17 years ago, many other key figures likely to be mentioned were deceased and most of the surviving figures have written about Watergate, given interviews interviews or testified under oath about their involvement. Nixon's grand jury transcript will not be released immediately because the government will have the opportunity to appeal. A Justice Department spokesman said government lawyers were reviewing the ruling.

http://filestore.democraticaudit.com/file/de232c951e8286baa79af208ac250112-1311676243/oligarchy.pdf

David Cameron faces growing pressure over Andy Coulson hiring Labour leadership demands answers about Andy Coulson's access to national security documents inside No 10 By Robert Booth and Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011 19.57 BST David Cameron is facing growing pressure this weekend over his hiring of Andy Coulson after the Labour leadership demanded to know if the former News of the World editor ever saw documents inside Downing Street that should have been available only to staff with the highest level of security clearance. Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, is writing to the prime minister seeking answers. He will also ask if Cameron was consulted over the decision not to seek the highest level security clearance for Coulson and if Coulson attended any meetings of the national security council and/or the cabinet. No 10 has refused to answer the same questions posed by the Guardian this week after it emerged Coulson was not put forward for rigorous "developed vetting", a process involving detailed interrogation by trained investigators aimed at uncovering lies and anything that could make an official susceptible to blackmail. Throughout the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed Coulson's former newspaper, the Metropolitan police and News Corporation, Cameron has stressed there have been no complaints that Coulson broke the rules while working as his director of communications. Coulson was granted 'security clearance' when he entered Downing Street in May 2010, which allowed him access to secret papers. This is one level below "developed vetting", which the Cabinet Office has said Craig Oliver, the current Downing Street spokesman, is currently undergoing alongside Coulson's former deputy, Gaby Bertin. The Guardian has told Downing Street it understands that on at least one occasion Coulson did attend a meeting of the national security council, which is sometimes attended by the chief of the defence staff and heads of the intelligence agencies. Downing Street has refused to say whether he did or not. It also declined to say whether Coulson attended meetings relating to Afghanistan, UK military, counter-terrorism, briefings on terror threats, and discussions with foreign leaders and generals where highly classified information may have been aired. Late Friday the prime minister's spokesman referred to previous statements which he said "detailed why the Permanent Secretary decided not to have Andy Coulson and others Develop Vetted in May 2010 - and underline that No10 and the Government have careful and rigorous procedures to ensure secret material is handled appropriately." On Wednesday the spokesman said he did not intend to go into further detailed questions. "To repeat, vetting is about access to paperwork, not meetings." That appeared to contradict the Cabinet Office's earlier explanation that Coulson did not require direct vetting as he did not attend cabinet, the cabinet's crisis committee – Cobra, – or national security council meetings. The Guardian told Downing Street it understood that, "officials and advisors without high-level security clearance are regularly excluded from discussions about highly sensitive issues, including intelligence. That would seem to suggest that the level to which an individual is vetted is highly relevant." Cameron's spokesman responded on Thursday afternoon: "Fundamentally you seem to refuse to accept that there were good reasons that had nothing to do with phone hacking why a number of special advisors, including Andy Coulson, were not Develop Vetted in May 2010 ... "There is no suggestion that Andy Coulson, or anyone else, had access to the most secret papers. Nor is it the case that decisions were taken about his vetting status because he had resigned from the News of the World [in the wake of the police investigation into phone hacking at the Sunday tabloid]." The Guardian replied on Thursday evening: "Our readers will be bemused, at best, by your refusal to address the issue of whether Andy Coulson attended any meetings at which highly classified information was discussed. More sceptical readers may conclude that you are reluctant to disclose information that could prove inconvenient in some way." The Guardian has asked Downing Street to focus on three key questions: did Coulson ever attend a meeting of the national security council?; did Coulson at any time have unsupervised access to information designated top secret or above?; and which ministers or officials were informed of the decision not to vet Coulson to the highest level? It invited Downing Street to address the questions directly, but the latest statement from No 10 did not do so

What now for Rupert Murdoch?What does the future hold for News Corp and the Murdochs? Rupert's biographer Michael Wolff and commentator Roy Greenslade discuss the damage done By guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011 21.15 BST Could the hacking scandal be the end of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp? Michael Wolff, author of The Man Who Owns the News, a biography of Murdoch, and media commentator Roy Greenslade talk about about the man, the media empire and what happens next. Emine Saner listens in. Roy Greenslade: As bad as things appear to be, Rupert Murdoch could be seen to be a tremendously beneficial owner of media in Britain. He's poured money into the Times and the Sunday Times, and kept them afloat when few other people would have done so. He launched satellite TV, increasing the range of channels available to everyone. This must surely be something to appreciate about the man. Michael Wolff: If you like the direction, reach and power of "big media", you can hardly find someone who has been more beneficial than Rupert Murdoch. The downside, however, is to use it to further his own interests, create a power base, an independent state of his own. Murdoch loves newspapers. But one of the reasons he has loved newspapers is they can be very powerful and they give him a power he can use. RG: Isn't it always the case that small media, if it's successful, is going to become big media? We would say in terms of business, if we believed in capitalism, that branching out is a natural consequence. So Murdoch, as a newspaper owner, gains power, and we know there's this amazing reciprocal relationship that goes on. He uses his political power to further his business interests, and he uses his business interests to further his political power. The point is, is there any proof that his use of political power has had any effect on the democracies of Australia, Britain, the United States? Especially the US, where it seems he has very little political clout. MW: Let's take the present presidential election cycle, in which you have a list of candidates in the Republican party. [You look] at these people and think, "how did they get here? These are the strangest group of national candidates ever assembled, how did this happen?" The answer, most obviously, is because of Fox News. It has two million viewers who want to be entertained by politics, who need exaggerated figures to entertain them. You can only be a viable Republican if you speak to the Fox audience. They demand exaggerated figures, therefore we have conservatives who are unelectable in America. RG: Is that not a failing of politics? Is it politicians who are being lured – and this would be true in Britain – into the idea that this man has more power than he really has? MW: I absolutely believe that. Both here and in the US, at any point, politicians could say "no, you're not powerful, you just have the illusion of power and that's what everyone is falling for". But that's a bit of dialectic here – whether power is real or it's an illusion. I think this is a unique moment – you can call it an Emperor's New Clothes moment – of re-evaluation of what power means. RG: You've spent time with Murdoch, and over the years so did I. I've also met – and suffered under – other media moguls, most particularly the late, unlamented Robert Maxwell so I am able to contrast them as people. Murdoch is quite a nice guy when you meet him. He is quite gentle, he rarely raises his voice. I found him quite sociably liberal, though clearly a rightwinger. As a person, he is not without charm. He really likes journalists, he likes the gossip. MW: I think you can even go so far as to say the man has a fundamental amount of integrity. He is guided by a set of clear interests, principles and a worldview, and mostly he doesn't deviate from it. Having said that, fundamentally the problem is that Rupert Murdoch doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anybody outside of his sphere. He is connected only to specific things – his family, which is good, you feel a warmth. He is a victim to these emotions as much as any father. And he cares about his company. But beyond that … RG: We balance between Rupert being a good thing for keeping newspapers going and yet at the same time, having accrued that power, has misused it. Is it not possible to conceive that this crisis would lead to a rebalancing, or are we really seeing – as I believe – the disembowelment and end of News Corp altogether? MW: Let's just deal with the newspapers. We are seeing the end of newspapers and this has given a weapon, within News Corp, to those who have been saying, "What do we have these papers for? We have all this capital tied up in low- or often no-growth businesses." They have the upper hand now. I think that's one of the reasons why the newspapers will go; also the newspapers are incredibly tainted and I don't see how the Murdochs can go on running a business in the UK any more. As for News Corp as a whole, the best-case position is to say, "if we get rid of the newspapers and we get rid of the Murdochs, we have a healthy company". I think it may be too late for that. Emine Saner: What happens to the rest of the family? Is this also the end of the Murdoch dynasty? RG: James has been found wanting in this whole affair. He wasn't around when it happened, but he was sent in to clean it up and he used a toothbrush. MW: I've spent time with James. He is intelligent, but he is the son of a rich man and that's his dominant characteristic – he is impulsive, entitled, arrogant, he listens to nobody. What that means, ultimately, is that he is incredibly immature. His father is too old; he is too young. RG: Do you think there is a real split in the family? MW: I'm just picking up on what I hear and obviously there is an enormous amount of friction. At some point it naturally becomes every man for himself. RG: The performance in front of the select committee was extraordinary. I kept thinking, is he acting? Is he pretending he's not hearing, that he's faltering and doddery in order to confuse the committee? MW: I've been telling people this for several years now. This man is 80, and he's an old 80. In all the time I spent with him, this is the behaviour that I saw. He can't hear. There are a whole range of cognitive references he can't deal with – dates, names, mid-term memories, abstractions. He can deal with things right in front of him. That's why he's very good on the phone with newspaper editors. ES: Where does he go from here? RG: He retires to a nice Los Angeles ranch, I guess, Ronald Reagan-style. MW: One of the better sources I have, with access to News Corp, said the fear inside the company is that Rupert will not see 82 as a free man

Phone-hacking inquiry: unanswered questions The PCC is not a 'regulator' and has no effective ability to investigate or to apply meaningful sanctions Editorial guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011 21.27 BST Another week, another resignation. Today it was the turn of Lady Buscombe, the chair of the Press Complaints Commission, to step down from her role overseeing self-regulation of newspapers. This departure had an air of inevitability about it. The November 2009 PCC report into phone hacking was a risible document which was almost wilfully blind in its inability to see the significance of publicly available evidence or to ask searching questions of the appropriate people. Earlier this month the PCC withdrew that report, belatedly accepting the obvious: that it had gullibly accepted the News International "one rotten apple" explanation of behaviour at the News of the World. But by then the damage had been done. It was apparent then – and has become even more so since – that the PCC is not a "regulator" in any accepted sense of the word. It has no effective ability to investigate or to apply meaningful sanctions. The 2009 report was, as we warned at the time, "dangerous to the press" because it would call into question the credibility of self-regulation itself. Thus it has proved. The PCC is now advertising for a new chair to step into Lady Buscombe's shoes. Since it is unlikely that the PCC will survive the inevitable scrutiny of Lord Leveson's forthcoming inquiry this is, on the face of it, not the most attractive job in the world. But the PCC does serve a useful role as a mediator and its code of practice remains a good set of practical and ethical guidelines. So it is right that the PCC continues its work while the industry, and others, decide on the regulatory framework which will replace the PCC. At the end of a week in which Lord Leveson put more flesh on the bones of how he intends to proceed this autumn, there remain some very troubling questions about how Andy Coulson came to be appointed to his role at No 10; what sort of vetting was involved; and what access he had to sensitive information, given his relatively low security clearance. People in line for highly sensitive jobs are vetted to find out anything compromising which could make them vulnerable to blackmail or other forms of undesirable influence. Given the criminal cases and press coverage relating to Coulson's period as editor of the NoW, David Cameron's determination to bring him to Downing Street looks extremely puzzling. Why was he not put through the sort of routine vetting procedures to which his predecessors and successor were subjected? Which ministers or officials approved the decision to give him only a cursory security check? Given his lack of clearance, what information did he have access to and which sensitive meetings did he attend? We now know that News International had evidence in 2007 that Coulson had knowledge of illegal payments to police officers. Did that report have the potential to make him vulnerable to external pressure? These are important questions – and we hope that Lord Leveson will see it as his duty to ask them, for otherwise this will remain an unexamined aspect of this affair. The prime minister has, with some justification, boasted of his commitment to transparency over his relationship with powerful media figures. But on this issue he is curiously coy. More worrying is the refusal of public servants to come clean about the questions – including Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, Jeremy Heywood, the Downing Street permanent secretary, and Craig Oliver, the current head of communications. The series of questions posed by the Guardian to Downing Street this week are relatively straightforward and could, in the spirit of openness, be answered perfectly simply. It is not the role of public officials to deflect, or block, awkward questions or to protect politicians from embarrassment. Nor should these same officials attempt to limit the terms of reference under which Lord Leveson could, and should, consider these issues at the heart of government

MP's bid to recall Murdoch rebuffed The Independent By Theo Usherwood Friday, 29 July 2011 Labour MP Tom Watson said his attempt to recall Rupert Murdoch and his son James to give more evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee over phone-hacking has been voted down. Mr Watson revealed the rebuff by his colleagues at a news conference after the committee met today to discuss its next steps in its investigation of the scandal. Further written evidence has to provided by August 11. The committee will then decide which witnesses to recall. MPs will write to law firm Harbottle & Lewis to see whether it can provide further evidence about the extent of the phone-hacking scandal now that News International has relaxed the confidentiality clauses in its contract. Chairman of the committee John Whittingdale said: "We have considered this morning the evidence we received last week from Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks and subsequent statements by certain individuals have raised questions about some of the evidence we have received. "As a result of that, we are going to write to ask for further details from various areas where evidence is disputed. "We are writing to Colin Myler, Tom Crone and Jon Chapman. We are also writing to James Murdoch to follow up on a number of questions which he promised us further information on last week." Mr Whittingdale said it was highly likely James Murdoch would be recalled to give evidence to the committee but he wanted to receive written evidence first. "I think the chances are that we will reissue to take oral evidence but before doing so I want to get the answers to the detailed questions that we have," Mr Whittingdale told a news conference in Westminster. He said the letters to Crone, Myler, and Chapman asked them to detail exactly what they dispute about the evidence provided to the committee by the Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks. He said Crone and Myler's claims to the committee two years ago that an email headed "For Neville", a reference to the News of the World's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, was not of any significance now was "directly contradictory" to the statements they gave last week. "There is no question that Tom Crone and Colin Myler appeared before the committee to give oral evidence and told us they had discovered no evidence that anyone else beyond Clive Goodman had been involved," he said. "We are now told, we understand from a statement issued to the media, that they had drawn James Murdoch's attention to the significance of the 'For Neville' email. It appeared that when they appeared before us that they didn't think it was significant but they now suggest it is." Mr Watson said Myler and Crone had been "tricky witnesses" in the original inquiry but the committee was now looking into the cover-up of the phone-hacking scandal. He said: "What we have got is a flat contradiction between James Murdoch's evidence by two very senior executives (Myler and Crone) in the company." Mr Whittingdale added: "Obviously we want to see the responses that they send to the letters that we are writing, but Tom Crone and Colin Myler and Jon Chapman have all said that they dispute the evidence given to this committee by James Murdoch. "We want to hear exactly how they dispute that. I suspect it very likely that we will want to hear oral evidence. If they do come back with statements that are quite plainly different from those given by James Murdoch, we will want to hear James Murdoch's response to that. "The chances are that this may well involve oral evidence from him as well." He said it would have made no difference whether the Murdochs or Brooks had given evidence to the committee on oath. The select committee was looking into whether it had been misled but was not concerned with an entire investigation into phone-hacking, he added. Earlier, a friend of the mother of the murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne said she was "absolutely devastated" after being told she may have been targeted by a private investigator who hacked phones on behalf of the News of the World. Sara Payne, who worked closely with the Sunday paper to campaign for tougher child protection laws, previously said she had not been told she was a victim of phone hacking. But her friend Shy Keenan revealed that Scotland Yard this week told her that her contact details were found in notes compiled by private detective Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed over phone hacking in January 2007. Former News of the World editor Ms Brooks, who became close friends with Ms Payne during the paper's campaign, said the latest allegations were "abhorrent". It is believed that the evidence found in Mulcaire's files relates to a phone given to Ms Payne by the News of the World so she could contact her supporters, the Guardian reported. Ms Brooks said in a statement: "For the benefit of the campaign for Sarah's Law, the News of the World have provided Sara with a mobile telephone for the last 11 years. It was not a personal gift. "The idea that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mr Mulcaire is unthinkable. The idea of her being targeted is beyond my comprehension." A source close to News of the World staff said it was understood that Ms Payne's phone did not have voicemail until 18 months ago. Ms Payne wrote a column for the final issue of the News of the World on July 10 after it was closed amid growing political and commercial pressure over the phone hacking scandal. Describing the paper as "an old friend", she said it became a driving force behind her campaign for a "Sarah's law" to give parents the right to find out if people with access to their children are sex offenders. News International, which owns the tabloid, which was forced to close in the wake of the scandal, said it was taking the matter very seriously, was deeply concerned and would cooperate fully with any potential criminal inquiries. The latest revelation, which comes following allegations the paper illegally accessed the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 7/7 victims' relatives and grieving military families, will ratchet up the pressure on the publishing company and its embattled head James Murdoch. Mr Murdoch has faced growing scrutiny about his governance in the wake of the scandal, but yesterday reports suggested he been unanimously backed by the board of BSkyB to remain in his role as chairman. The broadcaster, which is partly-owned by News Corp, News International's parent company, is expected to formally announce its show of support today following lengthy discussions between directors yesterday. The board meeting was the first since News Corp abandoned a takeover bid for BSkyB because of the hacking furore.