Sky News hacked emails, claims public interest

The entrance of one of the BSkyB headquarter buildings complex in west London, April 3, 2012. / AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

(AP) LONDON - Rupert Murdoch's Sky News channel twice authorized its reporters to hack into computers, a potentially embarrassing revelation that could further dent the media tycoon's hope of acquiring full control over satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Sky News said in a statement that in one case it broke into emails belonging to Anne and John Darwin, the so-called "canoe couple" who became notorious in Britain after the latter faked his own death in a boating accident as part of an elaborate insurance scam.

The case drew a surge of media interest after John Darwin walked into a London police station in late 2007 and said: "I think I'm a missing person." He claimed to have amnesia and said he could remember nothing since 2000 but his story unraveled as journalists and police started digging.

Sky News didn't identify which story was the result of hacking, but in an article dated July 21, 2008, journalist Gerard Tubb said the channel had uncovered documentary evidence showing that John Darwin had decided to come back to England because he was having trouble staying in Panama.

"We discovered an email," the article begins, without giving any explanation of how the message was obtained.

Sky News said the emails were later handed to police. In a statement Thursday, John Ryley, head of Sky News, said that "we do not take such decisions lightly or frequently" and said the investigation had served the public interest.

But the public interest defense immediately drew skepticism from British legal experts.

David Allen Green, media lawyer at Preiskel & Co., said that there was no such thing as a public interest defense as far as Britain's Computer Misuse Act was concerned.

"It is not possible for the editor of any news organization to authorize criminal acts," said Green, who has frequently criticized Murdoch's News Corp.

The revelation, first reported in Britain's Guardian newspaper, is a further headache for Murdoch, whose international media empire has spent the better part of a year in the spotlight over widespread illegal behavior at his now-defunct News of the World tabloid.

Murdoch's News Corp. owns a 39.1 percent stake in BSkyB, which owns Sky News, and he was forced to abandon a potentially lucrative bid for full control of the broadcaster after the scandal boiled over in July.

His son James stepped down Tuesday as BSkyB's chairman.

[madjek]

Lets add up the excuses for breaking the law....It was in the publics interest....My religion doesn't agree....i felt threatened...Its politics...i work on wall street....im a cop...god told me to...i was mistreated as a child...im poor...im a congressman...my dads a judge...im rich...............

[josephp5]

If this was just the first time this had happened (or second, or third, or fourth) then Murdoch could claim that it was a rogue event.

But it keeps happening!

Murdoch closed down News of the World when it became known that they had hacked the phone of a murder victim and interfered with the investigation. But we know now that other Murdoch companies also spied illegally on multitude of people---including the Royal family. And not just in Britain---there is evidence that the families of 9-11 victims were hacked in the United States.

There is ample reason to believe that this comes from the top, and Murdoch is running a criminal enterprise.

[HolyVoice]

Do you know what you are suggesting? What does that say about the practices of the Wall Street Journal, or Fox News? What about MySpace, do they hack their own users for exclusive news?

[KPeters_from_UK]

Hacking into Jude Law's mobile served what purpose?

[anonymous010]

Great! So you guys at BSkyB won't mind if the British people hack into all of your e-mail records to verify your statement about there only being two incidences since it's in the public interest, right?

[HolyVoice]

This is unbelievable, when did this happen? They should have a tag line saying they'll do anything "to make the news."