HACKING DETECTIVE MUST NAME HIGHER-UPS, COURT RULES

A British appeals court has turned down efforts by the private detective at the center of the U.K. telephone hacking scandal to avoid revealing the names of the higher-ups at The News of the World and/or News International who paid him to intercept the voicemail of British celebrities. The detective, Glenn Mulcaire, is expected to […]

FIGHTING TABLOIDS EXPENSIVE, CELEBRITIES SAY

Several British celebrities appearing today (Monday) before the Leveson inquiry into the ethics of the media described the enormous legal costs involved in trying to protect themselves against reporters who invade their privacy. TV comedian Steve Coogan noted that newspapers were insured against lawsuits but that their victims had to gamble huge sums in hopes […]

WHO HIRED PRIVATE EYE TO HACK INTO CELEBRITIES’ VOICEMAILS?

Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective who is accused of hacking into the voicemails of hundreds, if not thousands, of celebrities, politicians, and others, has filed an appeal against a court ruling that he cannot rely on his self-incrimination privilege when he testifies in a civil lawsuit brought by two alleged victims. The plaintiffs, British comedian […]

NAMES OF NEWS EXECS WHO ORDERED HACKING TO REMAIN SECRET

British actor/comedian Steve Coogan has been given the names of higher-ups at the now-defunct tabloid News of the World who assigned detective Glenn Mulcaire to hack into the voicemail of six celebrities whom he had tried to contact — but, for the time being, the names will not be publicly disclosed, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported […]

MORE CELEBS RECEIVE APOLOGIES FROM MURDOCH’S U.K. NEWS GROUP

News International, the umbrella group for Rupert Murdoch’s news operations in the U.K., has apologized to another nine persons who have filed invasion-of-privacy lawsuits against it and has offered to settle their cases, That brings to 17 the number of celebrities and politicians contacted by the news organization so far as the scandal over telephone […]

MURDOCH NEWS GROUP ADMITS PHONE HACKING

In an extraordinary about-face, Rupert Murdoch’s News International — the umbrella group for his British news operations — has admitted that reporters for its Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, hacked into the voicemails of at least eight celebrities and politicians who are suing the paper. The admission reverses its previous stance that the […]

SCOTLAND YARD WANTS TO WITHHOLD EVIDENCE FROM HACKER VICTIMS

Britain’s Metropolitan Police — better known as Scotland Yard — has asked an appeals court in London for permission to withhold evidence from celebrities and politicians who are suing the tabloid News of the World over alleged telephone hacking. The evidence is being sought by attorneys for British comedian Steve Coogan, football agent Sky Andrew, […]

U.K. COMIC WANTS TO KNOW WHO ORDERED HIS VOICEMAIL HACKED

British TV comedian Steve Coogan has asked a London court to order former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to disclose which executives of Rupert Murdoch’s news empire ordered him to hack the voicemail of thousands of celebrities and politicians, including Coogan’s. At a pretrial hearing on Monday, Coogan’s attorney, Jeremy Reed, said that his client “conducts […]

NEW LAWSUITS FILED IN BRITAIN’S HACKERGATE SCANDAL

Chris Bryant, the former Foreign Office Minister for Europe in the British Labor Party government, and Brian Paddick, a former Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) senior officer, have filed a lawsuit against the Yard, claiming that other officials of the agency engaged in a strategic cover-up of widespread phone hacking by the Sunday tabloid News of […]