July 10, 2009
News Corp 'Hacking' Charges
With Britain in an uproar over a report in the newspaper The Guardian that two tabloid newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch have systematically used private investigators to tap the cellphone messages of public figures and obtain other personal details from confidential databases, a senior Scotland Yard officer said Thursday that there would be "no further investigation" of the matter.
The officer, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, made the announcement only hours after he was assigned by Sir Paul Stephenson, the head of Scotland Yard, to "establish the facts" behind the disclosures. Mr. Yates said he had ruled out a new police inquiry because the Guardian disclosures had added "no additional evidence" beyond a police inquiry of the two tabloids' activities three years ago.