Summer 2011 Bulletinprimary.Indd
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A PUBLICATION OF THE SILHA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF MEDIA ETHICS AND LAW | SUMMER 2011 Not Just a ‘Rogue Reporter’: ‘Phone Hacking’ Scandal Spreads Far and Wide The so-called “phone hacking” scandal has led to more than Murdoch Closes News of the World and a dozen arrests, resignations by top News Corp. executives Speaks to Parliament while Public and British police, the launching of several new investigations Outrage Grows over Tabloid Crime, into News Corp. business practices, and pressured Murdoch to retreat from a business deal to purchase the remaining Collusion, and Corruption portion of BSkyB that he did not own. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) massive ethical and legal scandal enveloped the are reportedly conducting preliminary investigations into the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid News of possibility of international law violations. The FBI is reportedly the World in the summer of 2011, leading to its investigating allegations that Murdoch journalists hacked into sudden closure. New allegations arose almost the phones of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks daily that reporters and private investigators or their families. British police have teamed up with Scottish Aillegally accessed the voice mail messages of politicians, authorities to continue investigating claims of phone hacking. celebrities, and private citizens. The revelations sparked Parliament launched a formal inquiry into the scandal and has worldwide public outcry and led to sweeping law enforcement questioned top News Corp. offi cials including Rupert Murdoch investigations directed at top editors of the paper, executives and his son, James Murdoch. The investigations and inquiries at its parent company News Corporation, and the News remain ongoing, and it is unclear what each effort will uncover Corp. chairman and CEO himself. Meanwhile, lawmakers and about the details of a scandal that spans nearly a decade. commentators explored the scandal’s implications for the news media business as a whole. ‘Phone hacking’ a Widespread Practice at News of the Allegations arose in July 2011 that private investigators World working for News of the World accessed the voice mail account The illegal practices News of the World reporters allegedly of Milly Dowler — a 13-year-old British girl who went missing used to access the voice mail accounts of individuals ranging in 2002 and was later found murdered. The investigators from famous athletes to family members of crime victims allegedly listened to the voice mail messages of worried family have been popularly labeled “phone hacking,” although that members and then deleted them to make room for new ones, label suggests a more complex process of computer system giving her family and police false hope that Dowler was still manipulation than what apparently occurred. According to alive and accessing her cellphone. The news fed a growing a Sept. 1, 2010 New York Times Magazine article, News of scandal that has been years in the works, involves dozens of the World reporters, or private investigators the reporters reporters and editors at News of the World, and perhaps others hired, engaged in a practice known as “double screwing,” associated with News Corp. holdings, even in the United States. which involved two people calling the same cell phone at the The British police have also been criticized for handling early same time. The fi rst caller rendered the line busy, sending investigations poorly and for engaging in corrupt relationships the second caller to a voice mail prompt. The second caller with News of the World reporters and editors. On July 8, 2011, would then gain access to the phone’s voice mail in one of two News Corp. announced that the July 10, 2011 issue of News of ways. In some cases, the second caller might enter a generic the World would be its last after 168 years of publication. News passcode used by the mobile phone service provider which Corp. owns more than two hundred media outlets including would grant access to any voice mail box on that company’s The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, the Fox network, such as “1111” or “4444.” According to a July 14, television and fi lm companies, and much of BSkyB, a British 2011 post on the PBS blog Need to Know, in other cases, the satellite TV company. Phone Hacking, continued on page 4 Inside This Issue Summer 2011: Volume 16, No. 3 1 Not Just a ‘Rogue Reporter’: ‘Phone Hacking’ 23 Social Media Challenge British Privacy Scandal Spreads Far and Wide Injunctions Cover Story International Press Freedom 3 Security and Privacy in ‘The Year of the Hack’ 25 Journalist Murders: Bailey Killers Convicted; Director’s Note More Charges in Politkovskaya Case 9 Judges Rebuke Government on Leak Endangered Journalists Prosecutions 26 School Privacy Law Changes Could Challenge Government Leaks Media 12 Silha Lecture Features Mark Stephens, Freedom of Information International Free Expression Advocate 29 Student Speech: Off-Campus, Online, and in Silha Center Events Trouble 13 U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Student Free Speech Violent Video Game Sales to Minors 37 Update: Colorado Prosecutor Violated Student Supreme Court News Editor’s Rights with Criminal Libel Search Warrant 15 U.S. Supreme Court Invalidates Vermont Prescription Confi dentiality Law Criminal Libel Supreme Court News 38 Ninth Circuit Overturns Conviction for Threat against Obama 17 State Shield Laws: New Jersey Denies Blogger’s Claim; Other States Expand and Extend Freedom of Speech Privilege 40 Legal and Ethical Issues Arise when bin Laden Journalist’s Privilege Dies 20 States Consider Banning Undercover Recording Freedom of Speech at Agricultural Operations Access Would you like to receive Silha Event and Find us online! 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Unless compelled to, however, those companies disclosures of classifi ed government records in 2010, are not necessarily forthcoming about what they are doing with dozens of businesses ranging from Sony to Citigroup the information once they have it. to Google reported cyber attacks that compromised So it is not surprising that governments ranging from the Ttheir operations as well as sensitive consumer data. Some U.S. Congress to the European Union are calling for greater companies were targeted by the “hacktivist” collective transparency in cyberspace. They want to force companies to known as “Anonymous” in retaliation for the decision to explain what data they collect, what use they make of it, and sever their ties with WikiLeaks. Others, how users can opt out of the process, all in the name of giving DIRECTOR’S including PBS, the U.S. Senate, and the individual the right of control over personal information. NOTE the CIA, were singled out by the “Lulz This is all very well. But the “right to control” will have Security” collective, whose proclaimed First Amendment implications down the road. The European mission was to expose gaps in security systems. Even the Commission (as well as, independently, some legislators in International Monetary Fund suffered what it called a “large California), have called for an even more potent right: the and sophisticated cyber attack” that threatened to expose “right to be forgotten,” or to be removed from databases international economic data, with some investigators accusing such as Wikipedia and Google’s Streetview. This confl icts the Chinese government of backing the assaults — a charge with United States law, which generally says that truthful China denies. And the unfolding story of The News of the information obtained legally from public sources cannot be World phone-hacking scandal, which we explore in detail censored. For example, The New York Times reported on in our cover story, reminded us that unscrupulous behavior August 27, 2011 that two entrepreneurs in Cincinnati, operating that compromises both privacy and security can extend to as “Larken Design,” are selling digitally retouched mug shots journalists, too. from 1955 that were discarded by the Alameda County (Calif.) The public clamored for reassurance that their personal sheriff’s department when it switched to a digital fi ling system. information would be safeguarded in a digital world that Scholars quoted in the story said that Larken’s sales of prints, seemed increasingly vulnerable, even as they eagerly adopted posters, and tote bags are protected by the First Amendment. new social media innovations — some of which, like the But other countries consider privacy to be a fundamental identity disclosure requirements for subscribers to Google right that trumps other interests like free expression. A recent Plus and Facebook’s use of facial recognition software to scan poll found that 90 percent of Europeans polled support the photos posted online, were highly controversial. Predictably, “right to be forgotten.” I wonder how they would react to what legislators around the world called for stronger laws and Larken is up to? regulations and more vigorous enforcement mechanisms.