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NOTW journalists are arrested over phone hacks
TWO LONDON JOURNALISTS suspected of being involved in the News of the World (NOTW) celebrity phone hacking scandal have been arrested.
A statement released by the Metropolitan Police was light on detail but, fittingly for the case at hand, high on intrigue.
"Officers from the MPS's Operation Weeting team have today (5 April 2011) arrested two men on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages. The men, [A] aged 50 and [B] aged 42, were arrested after attending separate police stations in south west London by appointment.They remain in custody for questioning after being arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications," Scotland Yard said.
"The Operation Weeting team is conducting the new investigation into phone hacking. It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details regarding this case at this time."
Since Operation Weeting is the name given to the News of the World phone hacking investigation, we do not need to go back to Inspector Knacker of the Yard to work out any additional details regarding this case.
The Guardian has confirmed that two NOTW journalists are currently enjoying the hospitality of the police force, and adds that they are Ian Edmondson and Neville Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's former news editor and current chief reporter, respectively.
The Guardian added that the men handed themselves over to the police, and might have had their homes searched by officers.
This is the second time that the NOTW hacking accusations have been investigated by the police, but perhaps the first time that they have been taken seriously. µ
Tags: Hardware
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Calling it hacking really does belittle the word.
It's not hacking in exactly the same way as me walking through an open front door and stealing your TV is not expert cat burglery!
They just rang the mobile when they knew it was busy (i.e. ring it on one phone, hold the owner on the phone for a few seconds, then call it with another phone). This would put them through to voicemail on the second line. Then just press a digit to get back to the front menu and punch in the default password which was never changed.
A trick which I certainly was aware of for many many years having worked in the telecoms industry. Unfortunately I didn't know the number of any celebs to abuse.
Now one may hope that Rupert Murdoch might be rounded up as well. He's long overdue for the High Jump anyway.
Has anything been said about how this hacking was done? I'd imagine they just used default passcodes or very easy to guess ones to get into the voicemail, which I'd hardly consider a hack.