Report: Not Just For Tabloids; UK Privacy-Invading Hackers Widespread

The phone-hacking scandal that's surrounded Rupert Murdoch's tabloid empire is bad enough, but according to a newly revealed report, it's small potatoes compared to what some other companies have been doing in the UK. Presto Vivace writes with this excerpt from The Independent: "Soca, dubbed 'Britain's FBI,' knew six years ago that blue-chip institutions were hiring private investigators to obtain sensitive data – yet did next to nothing to disrupt the unlawful trade. The report was privately supplied to the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics in 2012 yet the corruption in other identified industries, including the law, insurance and debt collectors, and among high-net worth individuals, was not mentioned during the public sessions or included in the final report." Further: "Illegal practices identified by Soca investigators went well beyond the relatively simple crime of voicemail hacking and included live phone interceptions, police corruption, computer hacking and perverting the course of justice."

Comments

And this is a surprise?

[mendax]

The British government is just as corrupt and useless as the American government. Justice, real justice, is only for the rich... or those who know their way around the court system and the time to pursue it.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Half-pint HAL]

Surely it's the poor who get real justice, and the rich buy themselves out of it...?

Re:And this is a surprise?

[DKlineburg]

Not at all. I will say, I don't live there, and I'm sure someone can say to this. But China says yes we do it, so what go home. There up front? I guess everyone knows now what we all knew.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[mendax]

Well, I stand by what I wrote. The rich can afford lawyers to fight the government. The rich usually don't attract the attention of law enforcement when they do nasty things, especially those who are politically connected. The poor, because they can't afford attorneys or often get substandard representation from attorneys appointed by the court, are the ones who get the justice—whether they're guilty or not. Just how many people has the Innocence Project gotten off death rows of American prisons because they were proven to be factually innocent?

There are occasions when I feel that the only real justice comes in the form of a lead slug. Fortunately, I'm not the one who will dish it out.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not at all. I will say, I don't live there, and I'm sure someone can say to this. But China says yes we do it, so what go home. There up front? I guess everyone knows now what we all knew.

Are you trying to say China's up front about it (i.e., "They're up front.")?

Re: And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

The British government is just as corrupt and useless as the American government.

You take that back. Our American government far exceeds the British government's efforts at corruption and uselessness ... and let's not forget citizen surveillance, drone strikes and general apathy. In fact, the rest of the world pales in comparison to our lobbyists, pork barrel projects and overall fiscal irresponsibility.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

We just really need a "Worldwide Revolution Day". The governments of the world are corrupt and frankly, no one is happy about living under them. Individually we are frustrated, City, county, state, province, we are hassled through what should be the one precious life we have. No one knows what to do to change anything. Voting doesn't work, asking doesn't work, setting up a Constitution doesn't work.

          Fortunately for us, there are more of us, than them, by a huge factor. Let's just pick a day, next month, and lynch our powerful overlords, worldwide! I personally recommend revamping a U.S. Constitution with plain, easy to read, plain to interpret language to prevent corruption, later on, but, you may have ideas of your own.
Life is too short to continue to tolerate the pathetic shenanigans of those in "power". Frankly, we could let our pets run the world with better results.
Remove them, hang them, drag them through the streets like Mussolini. Tomorrow will be a better day, assuming the lesson is learned.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

There up front?

What am I looking at?

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I stand by what I wrote. The rich can afford lawyers to fight the government. The rich usually don't attract the attention of law enforcement when they do nasty things, especially those who are politically connected. The poor, because they can't afford attorneys or often get substandard representation from attorneys appointed by the court, are the ones who get the justice—whether they're guilty or not. Just how many people has the Innocence Project gotten off death rows of American prisons because they were proven to be factually innocent?

There are occasions when I feel that the only real justice comes in the form of a lead slug. Fortunately, I'm not the one who will dish it out.

1) There's no death row in the UK
2) If you've been following the phone-hacking saga, you would have noticed that recently it was the rich, entitled dicks who thought they could break the law and get away with it that are in court. Let's hope that the CPS manage to convict.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[drinkypoo]

The only way for the poor to get real justice is to demand it. The People get the government that they deserve.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Half-pint HAL]

The People get the government that they deserve.

Sorry, are you blaming the victims of the conmen, and not the conmen themselves...?

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

The People get the government that they deserve.

Sorry, are you blaming the victims of the conmen, and not the conmen themselves...?

Are you really trying to claim that blame can only be assigned to one party?

Re:And this is a surprise?

[lxs]

Have you heard about time zones? I mean here you are International Revolution Day 2013 12:00 GMT. The Australians and Japanese will all be sitting at home after a hard days' lynching and looting, various heads of state now heads on pikes, Europe has barely erected its first gallows and parts of the US are just waking up unsure of which outfit will go best with their handgun of choice.

It seems a bit unfair that westward leaders will have more time to prepare than their eastern counterparts.

Re: And this is a surprise?

[mendax]

Well, I won't take it back. All governments are corrupt and are equally corrupt. They only differ in the ways they are corrupt and what the corruption is called. In this country it's called campaign contributions, travel junkets, and jobs after leaving office. In places like Mexico and Russia it's called bribery. But saying "feces" instead of shit and "copraphage" instead of shit eater doesn't change the fact that it's corruption.

Re:And this is a surprise?

[cold fjord]

Frankly, I trust wild eyed revolutionaries like you less than I trust them. Most revolutionaries promise utopia, none deliver them. It isn't uncommon for what comes after revolution to be far worse than what preceded it. The fact that you advocate mass murder as the start of building your utopia is a warning sign. The fact that you would throw away the US Constitution with its many protections and separations of power for something unspecified but somehow better is another warning sign. You are being carried away by your imagination. Beware, or you may end up being carried away by men in uniform, either white or blue.

The Soviet Story (2008)

Re:And this is a surprise?

[Half-pint HAL]

Are you really trying to claim that blame can only be assigned to one party?

Let's ignore politics, and talk genuine conmen and snake-oil merchants. Do the little old ladies tricked into selling antiques at knock-down prices get what they "deserve"?

You don't have to absolve someone of all blame to say "they didn't deserve that".

So why do voters "get what they deserve"...?

Please do not call them Hackers

[houghi]

This is slashdot. We know the difference of the names like hackers, crackers, phreakers and script kiddies.
These UK privacy-invading people should be called what they really are: the government.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[AHuxley]

As with Australia, even if you do get to the police, get an inquiry, someone is ready to destroy documents or limit the terms of a final report to be almost like a satire.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-police-admit-senior-officer-shredded-documents-relating-to-child-sex-abuse/story-fni0cx12-1226667321160

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[auric_dude]

The GCHQ About Us http://www.gchq.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/index.aspx and Accountability and the Law http://www.gchq.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/Accountability-and-the-Law.aspx, so yes, lets call them the government for that is who they are.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[Myu]

If we're calling people what they really are, then "The Powerful" seems to be a better description. There's more blood on the hands of those at the top of private industry than the elected officials.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[Intrepid imaginaut]

There's more blood on the hands of those at the top of private industry than the elected officials.

Seriously?

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[Anonymous Coward]

This is slashdot. We know the difference of the names like hackers, crackers, phreakers and script kiddies.
These UK privacy-invading people should be called what they really are: the government.

What does the government have to do with this? These were private companies.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[similar_name]

They're the same people.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[Anonymous Coward]

We know the difference of the names like hackers, crackers, phreakers and script kiddies.

Hacker - One who drives a motorcycle equipped with a side-car.
Cracker - A white person.
Phreaker- Someone who ate too much Ecstasy at a Rave.
Script Kiddy- Someone with too many cats who is involved with Theater.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[houghi]

I was going for funny points. Instead I got insightful. Oh well.

Re:Please do not call them Hackers

[drinkypoo]

There's more blood on the hands of those at the top of private industry than the elected officials.

There's plenty of blood to go around. It's not really just "on the hands"; they're all wallowing in the same pool atop the ziggurat.

The old-fashioned way is also popular

[Hentes]

Hacking is only a tool of the more sophisticated businesses, breaking in to steal computers with business data is also quite common.

Everyone does it when it suits them apparently

[jma05]

Exactly a month ago, New York Times had an article on how mundane a tactic this is in China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/asia/in-china-hacking-has-widespread-acceptance.html

ForeignPolicy.com did a piece on US IP piracy from Britain when it was the emerging power like China
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/05/we_were_pirates_too

No one is a saint.

Traitors to freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

GCHQ are spying for a foreign power, the NSA.

Not America, because the NSA don't abide by US law, no, they've being spying for the benefit of the NSA/CIA. So no politician in the UK can be free to make a decision that goes against the NSA interests.

General Alexanders demands trump the UK voters command. That's why the needed the Snoopers Charter, because the NSA 'voted' for it.

Call then what they are, TRAITORS to their country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa

Re:Traitors to freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

GCHQ are spying for a foreign power, the NSA.

No, they spy for themselves, and trade some of it with the NSA.

Not America, because the NSA don't abide by US law

That's what you don't get- so far what the NSA has been doing is not actually illegal. That's the reason why it's such a huge scandal- it should be illegal but it's not.

Call then what they are, TRAITORS to their country.

I'm not sure how it's defined in the UK, but under the US Constitution the only thing which is defined as Treason is giving Aid or Comfort to an Enemy of the USA. And last I checked, the UK were actually Allies of ours.

Re:Traitors to freedom

[Guru80]

It's not illegal because the NSA and company have convinced congress they aren't able to understand what they are doing and, being the good lap dogs they are, the big wigs in congress pretty much said "Sounds good, do what you have to but don't get caught" and here we are.

there is a whole book about this

[Presto Vivace]

Murdoch's Pirates: Before the phone hacking, there was Rupert's pay-TV skullduggery

Am I the only one that read Tablets?

[Teun]

Report: Not Just For Tablets; UK Privacy-Invading Hackers Widespread.

Must have been i-somethings...

Big surprise...

[Mashiki]

People shouting "Murdoch is evil..." and other companies are doing the same, sometimes worse. Oddly, I wonder how many people know that tabloid is the paper format, not what's printed.

Following the law?

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, that is so last century. Laws are for poor people.

best pun on Slashdot ever!

[Presto Vivace]

mods, please uprate!

One Step At A Time...

[StoneyMahoney]

...we get closer to the world of Shadowrun every day, with a little Judge Dread thrown in.