back to article NoTW offers apologies, 'regret' over phone hacks

Rupert Murdoch's UK tentacle News International, owner of the Sun, the Times and the News of the World titles, has expressed "genuine regret" regarding surveillance operations – specifically, voicemail interception – by staff at the NoTW. In a statement supplied to the Reg, the company says: News International has decided to …


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  1. BillyIdol
    Paris Hilton

    Yeah right....

    To quote the song, you're not sorry, you're sorry you were caught.

    And this is the man who has UK Gov in his pocket. Liverpool had the right idea after Kelvin's TRUTH turned out to be, well, a load of lies.

    Paris, because, it's Friday and we're talking about breaching privacy. Some Ms Hilton is all to familiar with given her video and blackberry indiscretions...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward


      "has expressed "genuine regret" regarding"

      Thereby acknowledging that they sometimes express non-genuine regret, but this time they mean it.

      Says in black and white what we all knew all along.

  2. Vic

    The hacks will get off.

    They're bound to have asked someone if what they were doing was OK. Not Andy Coulson, I'm sure, but someone.

    That someone will have said something along the lines of "yeah, sure, knock yerself out".

    So as they sought advice as to the legality of their actions beforehand, a prosecution is not in the public interest, and the CPS will refuse to prosecute. The twats.


    [Yes, I am seething about the CPS' idiocy today]

    1. Anomalous Cowturd

      PM on Radio 4 this evening...

      Said that NotW had allocated a fund of twenty million for payouts, and was going to offer 100k per valid claim. Yet they only named eight people as having had their voicemail "hacked"...

      Simple sums equate to two hundred separate claims, so who else is in the picture for a payout?

      Enquiring minds etc...

      1. Swoop

        @ Anomalous Cowturd

        Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there turn out to be more than just the eight that were named. Plus, NotW will have taken into consideration the possibility that any or all of the eight may decide to go to court to press for more and it all gets nasty. Or, should I say, nastier.

    2. hplasm Silver badge

      Corruption fatigue.

      Is it just me, or is anyone else starting to suffer from this?

      It seems everybody has their hands in our pockets, their noses in our business or a blank card to do whatever the 4uk they want. And get away with it.


    3. peter 45

      permission asked?

      I doubt anything as explicit was ever said.

      I think it was more like "do whatever you need to do to get the story. We won't ask cos we do not want to know and don't care. "

  3. Chris Miller

    Not NoTW


  4. Anonymous Coward


    Let's face it, they regret getting caught is all...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "responsible investigative reporting"

    Friday LOLs!

  6. Christoph Silver badge

    We're very very sorry

    ... that we got caught

  7. Spasticus

    Best keep it out of court...

    ...if possible, might save the paper from being fined out of existence - which personally I'd like to see.

  8. Naughtyhorse

    Just for clarification...

    are they sorry they did it, or just sorry they got caught?

  9. dapneym

    It's bad but...

    I'm reminded of the South Park episodes featuring BP from the most recent series.

    "We're sorry..."


  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No justification

    I heard an ex NOTW editor try and justify hacking as it had an unearthed wrong-doing by MPs. He forgot to mention why it was necessary to hack celebrities.

    NOTW are scum, and invasion of privacy has no justification.

  11. Anonymous Coward

    By admitting guilt..

    .. they've ensured that any investigation into themselves stops, that may have uncovered further illegal activity.

  12. oldredlion

    You can't handle the title!

    But there is still no official law person saying the NotW have done wrong. Why are there no prosecutions? Test it in court and see if RIPA is worth the paper it is written on.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Are you crazy?

      If they do they will have to prosecute a couple of bigger offenders. You know which ones.

      I have not looked through the window, but IIRC today was nice and warm and noone said that they saw Lucifer driving down the street on a snowplough. I should probably ask the neighbours just in case I missed it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Good point

      As I understand it, companies *are* responsible for the actions of their employees. Doubtless they weren't looking for people to fire as long as they were coming up with good stuff. If they were happy to 'look the other way' at the time, their apology now is just one more shovelful of BS.

  13. CraigRoberts

    10 o' Clock Live

    The NotW reporter who was on last night was a proper horrible piece of work... Much as I'm not a fan of John Prescott I was hoping he was gonna dive over David Mitchell and punch the bloke... Absolute twat!

  14. MinionZero

    NoTW case & the BT/Phorm case ... the difference is sickening

    This news appearing today at almost the same time as the CPS failing to act over BT and Phorm is sickening in how much it shows how the rich and powerful are protected from spying (in the case of the NoTW) but us peasant serfs of the rich and powerful are not protected in the case of CPS BT/Phorm. So we have this very serious and on going investigation and charges against the News of the World for basically wire tapping and spying. Yet in other news today, BT and Phorm get away with effectively wire tapping style spying on many more people! WTF!

    So it really does look like Phorm and BT have rich and powerful friends, whereas the News of the World were pissing off the rich and powerful, by spying on them. So I guess that means us little peasant people don't deserve legal protection. Also shows who the government really protects, their rich and powerful paymasters, but oh no, not us little peasant people. We very evidently are to be exploited by the rich and powerful who spy on us for their gain. Pick any century in more than the past millennia and its this same depressing fucking story! ... The Rich & Powerful get protected, but people like us peasants don't get protected as we peasants exist to be exploited by the Rich & Powerful, so they can get even more Rich & Powerful. :(

    @"News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria"

    I guess the NoTW know they are screwed and the Rich & Powerful people going after them are not going to back down, so they are now offering to settle. Shame we can't get BT/Phorm to do the same. So much for Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights. NoTW punished, BT/Phorm not punished, yet Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights states "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.". So much for All human beings, equal in dignity and rights. Which is the primary principle of the Declaration of Human Rights.

    If it wasn't for the technological aspects of these stories, the utter hypocrisy of the government and legal system in how it differs in these news stories, it would sound like a case from hundreds of years ago, back when the rich and powerful were protected and people like us peasants were not protected, (exactly like today!) ... oh thanks very much :( ... so much for progress... Thanks legal system because today it feels like us peasants are to be treated like scum to be stepped on and abused by the rich and powerful for their gain. :( ... Is it any wonder people all around the world are getting angry and very tired of the relentlessly Narcissistic self-interest of our ruling classes, when the way the law treats us is like hundreds of years ago!

    Thats what this NoTW story means to me, it makes me feel like Baldrick!

  15. Arctic fox

    Non, je ne regrette rien

    That is the reality folks, let us be quite realistic about what they actually mean.

  16. Ken Hagan Gold badge


    "[Our] pride in our award-winning journalism remains undiminished."

    Either this is the illegal stuff, in which case they may geniuninely regret it but, hey, they're proud of it all the same ... Or this is the legal stuff they were doing around the same time, which they had so little pride in that they resorted to breaking the law in order to find something better.

    Either way, it is hard for me to parse this sentence in a way that is flattering to NotW. You'd think that men and women of letters could manage a better public statement, wouldn't you? Says it all really.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward


      Or.. their pride in their journalism was already zero, and so is undiminished now.

  17. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    I'm so glad ..

    .. I developed countermeasures for these idiots.

    The problem is not the NotW, the problem is that the risk/reward balance is totally out of whack - see BT Phorm. If it had not been for a couple of people who have a better bank balance than NotW they would have gotten away with it.

    Your average Jo Blow would not have the funds to engage in litigation, whereas for NotW (and others) litigation is called "the cost of doing business".

    This sort of stuff should attract obligatory jail sentences.

  18. TeeCee Gold badge

    NotW hacks.....

    .......are useless buggers?

    I think we knew that anyway.....

  19. John Smith 19 Gold badge

    Who needs pride on at least £60k PA.

    I think a working theory of the tax thresholds under NuLabor were basically set to ensure that NotW and Sun journalists would be kept sweet.

    Wouldn't want any of the Diggers merry men upset about supporting Tony Blair.

    BTW Merkins who think their journalists are noble seekers-after-truth should be aware of where the National Enquirer recruits from.

  20. Bill B

    New Keyboard!!!

    "Our pride in our journalism remains undiminished"

    The NoTW said this? With a straight face??

    For those who don't know the paper and think it's a quality newspaper, its alternative name is 'News of the Screws'

    Past editors include that well known pillar of the community, Piers Moron ^h^h^h^h^h Morgan



    Easier to believe someone has "regrets" when they are gazing through a prison door.

  22. David Beck
    Thumb Down


    Is no one else bother that the press insist on calling this a hack? Since all you need to access most voice mail is the pin which for most is initially set to a fixed value and the phone number of the mailbox, how is accessing this a "hack"?

    I know celeb A's phone number, an Orange number.

    What are the chances they have changed the original PIN (Orange use "1234").

    Ring 07973 100123 enter the celeb's number, enter 1234 and listen to the messages.

    Have I just committed an offence by publishing the complicated, technically demanding, heart stoppingly complicated procedure?

    Or are there just a lot of really stupid celebs/politicians/captains of industry? (I mean other than footballers.)

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