What is all the fuss about Phone Hacking?

- What is phone hacking?

Phone hacking is the term used to describe the practise of intercepting a telephone call, or message or voicemail, without the owners consent.

It is done when a phone has been given a default PIN. If the owner does not change this, and if the hacker knows the number and the PIN, he/she can access the owners details. As well as hacking messages and voice mails, phone hacking can include caller ID which entitles the hacker to pretend the call is coming from another number, during the mid 2000s, it was discovered that this would allow unauthorised access to the voicemail on some mobile phone networks.

 - Why does the newspaper industry use phone hacking?

Newspapers use phone hacking to give out information, e.g. drug use, divorce, affairs, about celebrities and find sometimes fake information on people to get more readers. News of the World is a good example of this as they, being the Sunday sister of The Sun, had spread out scoops such as, sex scandles, drug abusers... and because of this, it was given the nickname of "Screws of the world". (The image below is the first issue of The New of the World).

- What has the impact been on the Newspaper industry, especially The News of the World?

Since newspapers started using phone hacking to get stories, it has made the newspaper industry look really bad. The News of the World, has been banned because of its overuse of phone hacking. The image below is the front cover of its last issue.

Because of the News of the Worlds biggest and most upsetting story, the paper has been banned. The story of Milly Dowler, a girl who was murdered, and the News of th World had hacked her phone deleting voice mails, which led her parents to believe she was stil alive.

- Who are the main victims of phone hacking and how has it affected them?

The parents, family and friends of murdered teenager Milly Dowler were most affected, and the parents of murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were allegedly targeted. Sara Payne, whose Sarah's Law campaign for better child protection regulations was championed by the NoW (New of the World) after her 8 year old daughter was murdered in 2000, has been told her details may have been held by Glenn Mulcaire. Relatives of dead UK soldiers and relatives of 7/7 victims say they may also have had their phones hacked. The parents were led to believe that their children may have still been alive, as well as the relatives of the dead soldiers.

- The phone hacking scandal.

In 2006, the newspaper has used private investigators to illegaly gain access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. In 2007, the papers royal correspondant, Clive Goodman,pleaded guilty to illegal interception of personal communication and was jailed for four months., the papers editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier.

- What is Newscorp?

News Corporation or News Corp is the worlds second largest media conglomerate as off 2011 in terms of revenue and third largest in terms of entertainment. The scandal has effected them as they have shut down the News of the World and they have been partly blamed for most of the worlds phone hacking scandals.

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were part of the News of the World group, both being editors. Rebekah had said thet the government had made the "sacndal" to seem worse than it was, and Andy, resigning before he could get main blame. Now Rebekah has been made down as chief of News International.

- What has the government done about phone hacking?

Not only canceling the News of the World nespaper, the Prime Minister has announced two inquiries and said the Press Complaints Commission should be scrapped. Lord Justice Leveson is conducting a two-part inquiry, initially looking at "the culture, practices and ethics" of the UK media and its relationships with police and politicians. It will later examine the extent of unlawful conduct within newspaper groups and the police's original phone-hacking investigation. Former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Elizabeth Filkin is also to examine the relationship between the media and police. The government, and the previous Labour administration, had been accused of being slow to react to the scandal.