قضية تجسس نيوز كورپ على الهواتف، هي قضية قرصنة تورطت فيها صحيفة نيوز أوف ذه ورلد الأسبوعية، تنشرها في المملكة المتحدة، نيوزپاپرز عن نيوز إنترناشونال، أحد فروع نيوز كورپوريشن المملوكة لروپرت مردوخ. بدأت القضية عام 2005، ولا زالت حتى 2011.

نظرة عامة

القضية نفسها

The News of the World phone hacking affair is a series of events relating to the News of the World's use of private investigators to illegally gain access to the mobile phone messages of a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. They claimed it was in the public interest for people to know the supposed 'truth' about various celebrities, politicians and royalty. Whilst some accusations were at least partly true, many of the calms were of dubious credibility and based on hacked voice mail and text messages.

The News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and his two associates were arrested onثمانية August 2006 due to phone hacking allegations made by the British monarchy in 2005. In 2007 the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, was jailed for four months; the paper's then editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier. In 2009/2010, further revelations emerged of the extent of the phone hacking, and how widely it was known about within the News of the World and its News International parent. By March 2010, the paper had spent over £2m settling court cases with victims of phone hacking. In April 2010 it emerged that "the officer in charge of the [Scotland Yard] inquiry, assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, subsequently left the police to work for News International as a columnist." by the 8th of July, 2009,The Guardian made a series of allegations wider phone hacking activities at the News of the World newspaper, that were aimed at other people like the TV hoast Chris Tarrant.

It lead to several prominent people that were covertly snooped upon commencing legal litigation against the News of the World's owner and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Those who began legal action included the football agent Sky Andrew, the actors Sienna Miller and Steve Coogan, and the television presenter Chris Tarrant and ex-employee of Sky Sports, Andy Gray.

قضايا أخرى متعلقة

Whilst not a phone hacking incident, but a covert video incident, the Mosley v News Group Newspapers Limited case echoed the rather dubious reporting standards that would become the crux of the phone hacking affair. The Mosley v News Group Newspapers Limited [2008] EWHC 1777 (QB) case was an English High Court case in which the President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Max Mosley challenged the News of the World newspaper who published details and photos of his involvement in a S&M sex act involving several female prostitutes, one of which a gave the paper a video recording of it. The case resulted in Max Mosley being awarded £60,000 (approx. 92,000 United States dollars) in damages. It also established that sadomasochistic sex practices are not a matter of public interest.

The present series of dubious news gathering techniques and reporting standards at the News of the World newspaper, can be ultimately traced back a related incident in 2004, when The News of the World ran a series of articles, alleging that the former SSP MSP Tommy Sheridan had committed adultery. This resulted in both the Sheridan v News International (Thomas Sheridan v News Group Newspapers Ltd) is a civil court case of July 4th, 2006 and the Her Majesty's Advocate v Thomas Sheridan and Gail Sheridan criminal prosecution of Tommy Sheridan of 2010 cases.

2006: فضيحة القرصنة على المكالمات الملكية

The News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and his two associates were arrested onثمانية August 2006. They were charged with hacking the phones of members of the royal household by accessing mobile phone voicemail messages. The arrests were the result of a seven month investigation by Scotland Yard. The News of the World's لندن office was searched by the police during their investigations. Goodman was also suspended by the newspaper.

The investigation began as a result of an article published on 13 November 2005 by Goodman. The article claimed that Prince William was in the process of borrowing a portable editing suite from ITV royal correspondent Tom Bradby. Following the publication the Prince and Bradby met to try and figure out how the details of their arrangement had leaked out, as only two other people were aware of the situation. Prince William noted that another equally improbable leak had recently taken place regarding an appointment he had made with a knee surgeon. After some discussion, the Prince and Bradby concluded someone was breaking into mobile phone answering machine messages. The compromised voice mail accounts were found to belong to his aides, and not the Prince himself.

Their concerns were passed along to the police, whose investigation began as a localised incident involving staff at Clarence House. The list of possible victims broadened to include ministers, a Member of Parliament, military chiefs, a leading media figure, top footballers and celebrities, but the only NOTW journalist to be charged was Royal correspondent Goodman.

On 26 January 2007 Clive Goodman was jailed for four months having pleaded guilty to the phone message interception charges. His associate private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, whom the newspaper had paid for his work, was imprisoned for six months. On the same day, it was announced that Andy Coulson had resigned as the editor of the News of the World, having given in his notice a fortnight earlier. He was immediately replaced by Colin Myler. Goodman and Mulcaire subsequently both won unfair dismissal claims.

2008: قضية ماكس كليفورد الأولى

The publicist and ex-newspaper reporter, Max Clifford reached an out-of-court settlement with the newspaper in 2008, receiving an apology and a reported £1,000,000 in compensation over privacy breaches earlier that year.

2009–2010: المزيد من الاكتشافات

عدد الضحايا

Beginning onثمانية July 2009,The Guardian made a series of allegations that the phone hacking activities at the News of the World newspaper went far beyond the activities for which the NOTW's royal editor Clive Goodman was jailed in 2007, those activities being limited to members of the Royal household. The paper alleged that the hacking included public figures such as politician John Prescott and the Manchester United F.C. manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Tessa Jowell when she was Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Boris Johnson when he was the Opposition spokesman on higher education, public relations guru Max Clifford and even Rebekah Wade, the editor of the News of the World's sister-paper The Sun, were among the alleged victims. Prescott in particular was outraged at the fact that the police did not inform him of the phone tapping, but Assistant Commissioner John Yates stated that there was no actual evidence that Prescott's phone had been tapped.

The NOTW denied these claims and its parent company News Corporation invited The Guardian to share any evidence it had with the Metropolitan Police. The Metropolitan Police had declined to reopen their inquiry in response to the Guardian's reports stating that "no additional evidence has come to light" and it "therefore consider[ed] that no further investigation is required". In December 2009 a parliamentary question was tabled about the possible tapping of then-minister Tessa Jowell's phone, and footballer Sol Campbell instructed his solicitor to contact the police.

In February 2010 The Guardian reported that three mobile phone companies had discovered that over a hundred of their customers had had their answerphone messages hacked. The companies identified the customers in 2007 after Scotland Yard disclosed numbers that had been accessed by Goodman and his private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. A Freedom of Information request by The Guardian found that the police had recovered 91 PIN codes for accessing other people's voicemails in material seized from Mulcaire and Goodman. In April 2010 it was revealed from Crown Prosecution Service documents that although police had named onlyثمانية individuals in court, the Scotland Yard enquiry had actually uncovered over 4,000 names or partial names and nearly 3,000 full or partial telephone numbers from the materials seized from Mulcaire and Goodman.

نطاق أوسع للقضية

In addition, contrary to the News of the World claims in 2007, the Guardian in July 2009 said that the activities were known to a range of persons at the paper including then editor Andy Coulson. At the time The Guardian made these claims, Mr Coulson had left the NOTW and become director of Conservative Party communications and planning. Due to this, some claimed that the reporting was politically motivated. The Conservative Party was quick to stand by Coulson.

The Guardian revealed in July 2009 that NOTW had made payments in excess of £1m to three people subject to phone-hacking, including Professional Footballers Association chairman Gordon Taylor, with the out-of-court settlements subject to secrecy clauses. In July 2009, Private Eye revealed that The Guardian had, in order to avoid "all out war" with the NOTW, chosen not to tell the Commons committee that the £700,000 payment to Gordon Taylor, one of the three people with whom the NOTW reached out-of-court settlements, was signed off in June 2008 by the directors of News Group Newspapers Ltd, the News International subsidiary owning the NOTW — thus showing awareness of the matter at the highest levels. The reports led Press Complaints Commission to re-open its inquiry into the matter (finding that it had not been "materially mislead", leading Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger to resign from the PCC), and the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to reopen its inquiry.

تقرير لجنة الاختيار

In February 2010 the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, under the chairmanship of Conservative MP John Whittingdale, reported on the phone hacking affair as part of a wide-ranging report into privacy and libel issues. The report condemned the testimony of the NOTW witnesses that had appeared before the Committee, referring to "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation", and noted News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks' refusal to appear at all. The Committee concluded "We strongly condemn this behaviour which reinforces the widely held impression that the press generally regard themselves as unaccountable and that News International in particular has sought to conceal the truth about what really occurred."

Other News International newspapers (The Sun, The Times) downplayed the report, devoting minimal coverage to it and emphasising the News of the World's response.

Max Clifford case

In March 2010 the News of the World settled a case brought against it by publicist Max Clifford for intercepting his voice mail. The paper agreed to pay Clifford's legal fees and an undisclosed "personal payment" not described as damages, with the sum exceeding £1m. The case had been expected to reveal the details of previous settlements the paper had made, including the £1m spent in 2009 settling with three phone hacking victims, and the unfair dismissal claim won by Clive Goodman. Clifford had won court rulings in February 2010 that meant that The News of the World would have had to disclose previously secret information regarding which journalists were involved in hacking voicemail messages. The judge ruled that Mulcaire had to disclose the names of all the journalists who targeted Clifford and also those who received transcripts of the messages. With the settlement, this information would not be made public.

مزيد من الاجراءات القانونية

In April 2010 reports of further legal action emerged, with a football agent said to have launched legal action andعشرة MPs reported to be discussing action with law firms. The legal action reopened the possibility of details emerging which the settlement with Clifford had kept secret.

2010–2011: تجدد التحقيقات

سيرة نيويورك تايمز

In September 2010, The New York Times published the results of an investigation it had begun in March, which revealed further details about the extent of the News of the World's phone hacking, and about Andy Coulson's alleged knowledge of it. The investigation also revealed that a journalist at the News of the World had been attempting to hack in to the answer phone messages of a "television personality" in 2010. The journalist was suspended from reporting, and the personality is taking legal action against them.

The Times piece cited Sean Hoare, a former colleague, as saying that Coulson had "actively encouraged" phone hacking. Coulson has denied the claims, and indicated that he would allow himself to be questioned by the Metropolitan Police regarding the phone hacking affair.

In the wake of the renewed allegations, the Home Affairs Select Committee opened a new inquiry into phone hacking. The Metropolitan Police has also indicated its intention to re-examine the allegations regarding the News of the World, saying that it would consider new information that it had received.

Two days after the Home Affairs Select Committee announced its inquiry, the House of Commons voted to refer allegations of phone-hacking against politicians to the Standards and Privileges Committee, with the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

A report aired on Channel 4's Dispatches in October included remarks made by an unnamed source, said to have been a former senior journalist at the News of the World who worked alongside Andy Coulson. The source alleged that Coulson had personally listened to messages obtained through phone-hacking.

In early December 2010 Coulson, while under oath as a witness in HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan, denied any knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World or that he knew Glenn Mulcaire.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service said in December 2010 that it had determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge Coulson over allegations that he was aware of phone-hacking at the publication. The CPS said that witnesses interviewed by Metropolitan Police - including those who had previously made allegations through media outlets - had not been willing to provide admissible evidence.

انادىءات حول اجراءات التقاضي

In lieu of criminal proceedings, several public figures commenced litigation against the News of the World's owner and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Those who began legal action included the football agent Sky Andrew, the actors Sienna Miller and Steve Coogan, and the television presenter Chris Tarrant and ex-employee of Sky Sports, Andy Gray.

New allegations about the conduct of News of the World executives emerged in December 2010. Papers lodged in the High Court by lawyers acting for Sienna Miller claimed to have uncovered evidence of the involvement of Ian Edmondson, a senior editor at the publication, in work undertaken by the convicted private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

The following month, the News of the World disclosed that it had suspended Edmondson, saying that it would take "appropriate action" if the litigation or the paper's own internal investigation found evidence of wrongdoing by News of the World staff.

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced a review of the evidence collecting during the Metropolitan Police's original investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, said that the decision was motivated in part by developments in the civil courts.

استنطقة كولسون الثانية

Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, resigned from his position as David Cameron's communications director on 21 January 2011, citing "continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World". He had joined Cameron's communications team in 2007 after his resignation from the News of the World.

تحقيقات الشرطة الجديدة

The Metropolitan Police announced on 26 January 2011 that it would begin a new investigation into the phone hacking affair, following the receipt of "significant new information" regarding the conduct of News of the World employees. The probe will take place alongside the previously-announced review of phone hacking evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service.

On the same day, News International announced that it had fired one of the paper's senior executives, Ian Edmondson, based on evidence that it had subsequently given to the police. The BBC's Robert Peston said that the publisher had discovered four emails allegedly showing that Edmondson had knowledge of phone hacking, contrary to his previous denials.

By February 9th, the Metropolitan Police had begun the analysis of the documents seized in 2005 alongside the new documetry and electronic evidence. The ivestigatory team went on to some links not previously identified. In the 19 months since The Guardian reported that News International had paid a total of at least £1,700,000 to settle variose privacy actions brought privately by snooped on celebrities and politicans. By Febuary 9th, there were about 20 law suits were outstanding at this time.

The first arrests as part of the new investigation, codenamed Operation Weeting, took place onخمسة April 2011. Edmondson and the News of the World's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck were arrested on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages. Both men had denied participating in illegal activities.

2011: نيوز أوف ذه ورلد تعترف بمسئوليتها

The News of the World admit liability on April 8th, 2011, in a number of cases brought against it for alleged phone hacking. News International put out a press statement saying it has decided to offer unreserved apologies to some claimants, and that a compensation fund was being set up. News International also offered to pay damages and legal fees.

خرق حالات الخصوصية

The litigants, who are suing over the breach of their moblie phone, text messaging and voicemail privacy by the News of the World are Sienna Miller, Tessa Jowell, Steve Coogan, Leslie Ash, David Mills, Andy Gray, John Prescott and his former aid Joan Hammell, Sky Andrew, Nicola Phillips and Kelly Hoppen

Hoppen has lodged a claim against the News of the World and one of its reporters, Dan Evans, for "accessing or attempting to access her voicemail messages between June 2009 and March 2010".

انظر ايضا

• [قائمة ضحايا تجسس نيوز كورl]]
• قرصنة (أمن الحاسوب)
• شريدان ڤ نيوز إنترناشونال
• HM Advocate v. Sheridan and Sheridan
• Mosley v News Group Newspapers Limited

الهوامش

المصادر

وصلات خارجية

• Guardian: Andy Coulson Phone Hacking at News of the World Claims
• New York Times: Tabloid Hack Attack on Royals and Beyond
• The Guardian, News of the World phone-hacking scandal
• The Guardian, Police 'ignored News of the World phone hacking evidence' أربعة April 2010
• Independent on Sunday: Brown asks Scotland Yard To Investigate If He Was Hacked

[[Category:2007 في القانون]