Saturday, July 30, 2011

What’s the Deal With News Corp’s Other, U.S.-Based, Hacking Scandal?


A guide to News Corp's far less known hacking scandal on this side of the pond.

July 25, 2011
After testifying before the British Parliament last week, Rupert Murdoch returned to the United States to be greeted with more bad news: The Justice Department is opening up an inquiry into allegations of computer hacking by News Corp's American advertising wing, News America Marketing. The New York Times' David Carr revisited News America's troubled history with "anti-competitive behavior" in a column on Monday. On Wednesday, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg wrote to Eric Holder calling for a federal investigation into the hacking claims, pointing back to a similar request he had made back in 2005.

What's this other hacking scandal all about?

News America was accused in a 2009 lawsuit


of hacking into the computers of one of its competitors, Floorgraphics Inc., to steal detailed information about their sales, clients and finances. Floorgraphics said they first realized they were being hacked in 2004, when they discovered intrusions from computers with IP addresses registered to News America. The company claimed that their information was accessed at least 11 times over four months and that they started losing important clients to News America shortly afterward, leading to a round of layoffs.
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