Media & Communications Law

New Outrage at News of the World After Scotland Yard Says Mom of Slain Girl, 8, May Have Been Hacked

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Although celebrities, politicians and even members of the British royal family allegedly might have been victims of telephone voicemail hacking by the now-defunct News of the World, public outrage was ignited when the tabloid was accused of targeting the cellphone of a missing teen who was later found dead.

Now it has flared again after reports by the Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Telegraph, among others, that the mother of an 8-year-old girl abducted and murdered in 2000 by a convicted pedophile may have had her voicemail hacked by an investigator for the tabloid. Doing so may have been relatively easy, since the newspaper had given her a cellphone.

The New York Times (reg. req.) and Washington Post also have stories.

As detailed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, the tabloid and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Inc., are accused of wrongdoing both in the United Kingdom and the United States and investigations and litigation are proceeding on multiple fronts:

‘Adult Supervision’ Lacking in UK Paper’s Phone-Hacking, Del. Suit Says, Blaming Board

High-Up Cop ‘Like Clouseau’ as ‘06 News of World Probe Fizzled; Was Ex-Prime Minister Hacked?

News Reports Claim Murdoch Entities May Have Hacked and Bullied at US Companies, Too

ABC News Says DOJ to Expand FBI Probe of News of the World; Possible FCPA Violations at Issue

Did News of the World Reporters Pay Police to Track Media Targets via Cellphone ‘Pings’?

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