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

Posted by timothy on from the who-do-you-think-you-are-the-us-government? dept.

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."

10 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. And this is a surprise? by mendax · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    1. Re:And this is a surprise? by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

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

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    2. Re:And this is a surprise? by mendax · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    3. Re:And this is a surprise? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    4. Re:And this is a surprise? by lxs · · Score: 2

      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.

  2. Please do not call them Hackers by houghi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:Please do not call them Hackers by auric_dude · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:Please do not call them Hackers by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2

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

      Seriously?

  3. Everyone does it when it suits them apparently by jma05 · · Score: 2

    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.

  4. there is a whole book about this by Presto+Vivace · · Score: 3, Informative

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