11.00pm: The phone hacking scandal has finally made the front page of the Sun, leading with the closure of its sister title.
10.34pm: The Guardian's editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has told Newsnight that Murdoch's closure of the News of the World was "baffling".
I think it's baffling. No-one called for the News of the World to be closed. It seems perverse to be closing down the newspaper.
Rusbridger said it was clear that phone hacking was "systematic" at the paper. He said he spoke to a reporter from the tabloid yesterday who said that every time a journalist presented a story they were asked, "Where are the [phone] messages?"
The programme also heard from Sean Cassidy, whose son Ciaran died in the Russell Square explosion, says Cameron surely knew what was going on when he hired Coulson.
10.20pm: The closure of the News of the World could be a cunning ploy to legally shred any incriminating evidence linked to the phone hacking scandal, according to a prominent media lawyer.
Mark Stephens, head of media with Finers Stephens Innocent lawyer, said under British law the paper "may not be obliged to retain documents that could be relevant to civil and criminal claims against the newspaper—even in cases that are already underway."
If News of the World is to be liquidated, Stephens told Reuters, it "is a stroke of genius—perhaps evil genius."
All of the assets of the shuttered newspaper, including its records, will be transferred to a professional liquidator (such as a global accounting firm). The liquidator's obligation is to maximize the estate's assets and minimize its liabilities. So the liquidator could be well within its discretion to decide News of the World would be best served by defaulting on pending claims rather than defending them. That way, the paper could simply destroy its documents to avoid the cost of warehousing them—and to preclude any other time bombs contained in News of the World's records from exploding.
10.17pm: Pressure is mounting in America on Rupert Murdoch to prevent the phone hacking scandal from adversely affecting his financially crucial US media interests.
The Guardian reports that the News of the World's closure prompted "expressions of astonishment from analysts who saw it as a sign of how deeply it has affected the US heart of Murdoch's empire."
Martin Dunn, former editor of the Murdoch rival paper the New York Daily News, said the extent of illegal activity by the British tabloid had revived anxieties in US about Murdoch's style of journalism that had been rife when he first bought the New York Post in 1976.
10.13pm: Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has told Irish television that the closure of the News of the World won't fool anyone, writes Lisa O'Carroll.
Speaking on on Primetime on RTE, Prescott, whose phone was hacked, said:
Isn't it funny these guys, they always get rid of the Indians and not the chiefs, particularly Rebekah Brooks who was in charge and an editor of this paper.
This is another management exercise by Mr Murdoch, on the one hand he used to tell told us it was the work of one rogue reporter, despite we know there were several reporters involved in these criminal acts.
He's now wanting us to believe it was one rogue newspaper.
Cutting off the arms doesn't solve the problem. The problem is in the head and the body and hacking off and throwing people on the dole and suggesting what money will be saved will be given to charity is so typical of Murdoch operation.
10.10pm: David Cameron is to meet with Miliband next week to discuss the status and membership of the inquiries into the phone hacking scandal.
10.04pm: The Press Complaints Commission is a "toothless poodle" that should be replaced by a new self-regulatory watchdog, Ed Miliband will say tomorrow.
The Guardian reports that Miliband will say the PCC failed in its investigations into allegations about illegal phone hacking.
The Press Complaints Commission has totally failed. It failed to get to the bottom of the allegations about what happened at News International in 2009.
Its chair admits she was lied to but could do nothing about it. It was established to be a watchdog. But it has been exposed as a toothless poodle. It is time to put it out of its misery. The PCC has not worked. We need a new watchdog.
But the Labour leader will say he still believes in self-regulation.
A new body would need far greater independence of its board members from those it regulates, proper investigative powers and an ability to enforce corrections.
9.23pm: Scotland Yard has confirmed it was considering allegation that emails as well as mobile phones have been hacked.
It was understood that officers had not yet been decided whether the matter would fall under the new phone hacking investigation Operation Weeting.
9.21pm: There have been reports on Twitter and via email that the News of the World's Fabulous magazine will survive the paper's closure.
A friend of one member of staff emailed us and said she was "told this afternoon she was losing her job - then told hours later Fabulous's future was safe".
This perhaps suggests that the magazine will become part of a replacement Sunday title.
9.14pm: There's been more reports of the anger in at Wapping when News of the World staff were informed the title was to be shut.
One member of staff described the reaction to Brooks announcement as "a seething fury", Sky News reports. Another told the broadcaster: "She has kept her job and sacrificed the jobs of 500 people to do so."
9.10pm: This rather bluntly named website rather sums up the mood of those disgusted by the latest phone hacking revelations - and, no doubt, many of those News of the World staff who have paid the price for the scandal rather than their boss Rebecca Brooks.
8.54pm: There's been more reaction from staff at the News of the World about the paper's closure.
Features editor Jules Stenson told Sky News that staff showed "quiet pride" rather than "mob anger" when the announcement was made.
There was shock, bewilderment, there were a few gasps, there were lots of tears from the staff. It's been reported that there was a lynch mob mentality which is completely untrue, there was none of that.
There was bewilderment, there was disappointment but there wasn't any kind of mob anger, quite the contrary. There was a lot of quiet pride from a team of brilliant journalists.
Dan Wootton, the paper's showbiz editor, said he and his colleagues were "devastated" and that some had been in tears. He also claimed many staff felt sympathy towards Brooks.
There is devastation and fear. It is grief for the newspaper, that is what it is. It's not anger, it's grief. We were devastated. There were tears, and I know from a personal level we had huge sympathy for Rebekah Brooks delivering that news.Wootton added that in recent years the paper had changed:
For the last four years we have delivered a quality newspaper, a newspaper that bears no resemblance to the newspaper that I have been reading about in the press this week.If you're a News of the World employee and have anything to say about these editors' accounts of the atmosphere at the paper today, please get in touch. You can find me on Twitter at @David_Batty.
8.50pm: More on the reports that subeditors at the Sun have walked out in protest at the sacking of colleagues on the News of the World. A source told the Guardian that some subs left their desk for 30 minutes but are now back at them.
A News International spokeswoman said "a few" Sun journalists had left work at the same time as their News of the World colleagues, when it was the end of the working day.
8.45pm: MediaMatters, which monitors the US media, suggests that Murdoch's US operations could be damaged by the fallout from the hacking scandal because of his decision to make Les Hinton publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Eric Boehlert writes:
Prior to taking over Murdoch's American publishing jewel, Hinton ran the mogul's British newspapers, including News of the World. And Hinton ran the newspapers at a time when the tabloid was hacking mobile phones at an astonishing rate. But perhaps even more troubling is the fact that Hinton oversaw News Corp.'s initial internal investigation into the phone hacking scandal and came away convinced there was no evidence of widespread wrongdoing in the company, and that the hacking had been confined to just one reporter.
Hinton, a veteran journalist himself, was tasked with finding out the truth about phone hacking inside News Corp.'s tabloid. He came away with Pollyannaish findings, claiming Murdoch's operation was clean, except for one bad apple. (...) It's an investigation that, in light of recent developments, looks to have been incompetent at best, and a fraud at worst. In fact, it looks to have been part of a failed cover-up.
For the record, Hinton also authorised payments to the News of the World reporter at the heart of the hacking scandal, as well as for the private detective that reporter hired. Hinton authorized the payments after both men had been jailed.
8.35pm: This is David Batty and I'm taking over the live blog for the rest of the evening.
Paul McMullan, former features executive at the News of the World, has again laid into Rebekah Brooks - this time on Sky News. He accused Brooks and Andy Coulson of failing to take responsibility for the phone hacking scandal and sticking up for their staff. McMullan said Brooks should have stood up for the paper's reporters and defended their practices, which he described as a "grey area" necessary for exposing corruption.
"Instead she's said, 'No, I didn't know ... I just happened to be the editor'. She's trashed the reputation of the News of the World, she's closed the paper, she should be sacked."
8.19pm: The National Union of Journalists has confirmed that journalists at The Sun walked out in protest at the treatment of their News of the World colleagues.
An NUJ official told the Guardian "the whole subbing desk" walked out – "around 30-35 people".
The NUJ has published the following statement on its website:
In solidarity with colleagues at the News of the World, tonight Sub-Editors at The Sun newspaper have walked out of work in protest.
At the same time as the protest, inside the building, News of the World staff were being told about the redundancies.
The company has told staff they will receive a 90 day payment which covers the legally required consultation period for job cuts.
This exposes the cynical deceit of James Murdoch who earlier today said: "We will communicate next steps in detail and begin appropriate consultation."
8.13pm: My colleague David Batty has more on the Channel 4 news piece with Glenn Mulcaire, including a clarification on his statement that phone hacking victims were chosen "by committee".
Mulcaire secretly filmed by one of his hacking victims, admitted that the decision to order phone hacking was made "by committee". A statement sent to the programme by his lawyer clarified that Mulcaire did not mean there was a specific committee at the paper responsible for order phone hacks, rather that it was carried out on the orders of several individuals on the newsdesk, not a lone reporter.
The phone hacking victim who secretly filmed the former private investigator was a victim of sexual assault whose personal details were leaked to the press. She told the programme that journalists were aware of the detail of her personal statement about the assault she suffered. She said it was "traumatic" that the press "seemed to know everything about me."
C4 News also spoke to Steve Roberts, former head of the Met Police anti-corruption squad, who said he was aware of information being leaked by officers to the press. But there was a reluctance to take on the media over the issue.
Paul McMullan, former features executive, told the programme more details about how payments were made to police officers for information. He said money was passed on via officers' relatives rather than directly. He repeated his claim that senior figures at the paper, including Rebekah Brooks, were aware of the practice. "If it wasn't a significant amount it would be put on my expenses and that would be authorised by my boss - Rebekah Brooks."
8.06pm: The News of the World paywall has apparently been taken down. Every cloud...
8.05pm: Potentially more information implicating Rebekah Brooks, from ..er.. George Michael:
@GeorgeMichael Rebekah Brooks sat two feet from me in my own home and told me that it was never the public that came to them with information.....
@GeorgeMichael on celebrities, and that the Police always got there first. I think thats enough to be going on with. (Don't ask me how she got there)..
7.58pm: The Sun – News of the World stablemate – will become a seven-day newspaper, the BBC is reporting.
Earlier we heard that the sundaysun.co.uk and sundaysun.com domain names had been registered two days ago.
7.53pm: Colin Myler, editor of News of the World, has said this is the "saddest day of his professional life," according to Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News.
7.47pm: Amelia Hill broke the news of Andy Coulson's impending arrest. A second "former senior journalist" at the News of the World is also to be arrested within the next few days.
Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World.
The Guardian understands that a second arrest is also to be made in the next few days of a former senior journalist at the paper.
Leaks from News International forced police to speed up their plans to arrest the two key suspects in the explosive phone-hacking scandal.
The Guardian knows the identity of the second suspect but is withholding the name in order to avoid prejudicing the ongoing police investigation.
Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's director of communications in January, was contacted on Thursday by detectives and asked to present himself at a police station in central London on Friday, where he will be told that he will be formally questioned under suspicion of involvement in hacking.
7.44pm: Andy Coulson is to be arrested over phone hacking tomorrow.
7.43pm: Channel 4 News is screening a secretly filmed interview with Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for hacking phones.
Mulcaire said he was given the names of targets to hack "by committee".
This would appear to contradict News International consistent defence that the hacking was the result of one rogue reporter.
Mulcaire admitted some of his actions were morally questionable.
"It does bring you into areas that are grey," he said.
Mulcaire also said his family had suffered as a result of the hacking scandal.
7.39pm: David Wooding, associate editor at the News of the World, told Sky News one of his colleagues "was in tears" and other people "were standing around looking dazed", David Batty reports.
Wooding said the NOTW had "been taken off the face of the world" because, unlike the other News International titles, it "isn't blemish free".
He offered a robust defence of the current staff at the NotW, saying when he came to the paper 18 months ago it was a "clean outfit" and the people who caused the scandal "all left five years ago". But the associate editor also complained that current staff were carrying the can for the sins of their predecessors.
Wooding presented the problem largely in line with News International's rogue element defence, laying the blame squarely with Glenn Mulcaire whom he described as an unscrupulous private investigator. The editor also questioned whether the thousands of people whose names were discovered on lists compiled by Mulcaire had actually had their phones hacked. He said all those guilty of unscrupulous activity had been "thrown out" of the paper. "About three people who were there then are still there, the rest are gone."
Wooding later told BBC News that when he returned to the office this afternoon upon hearing of the paper's closure, "everyone was standing around looking dazed as if some nuclear bomb hit the place."
Blaming the previous regime he said: "We had no idea this was going on". He said while the current staff at the paper were blemish free it was" the News of the World brand that has been hit." Current staff had been thrown out because of the actions of unscrupulous people who had been thrown out.
7.35pm: Hacked Off, a group campaigning for a proper investigation and inquiry into the phone hacking scandal, has said James Murdoch's statement does not alter the need for a full inquiry and actually "raises further questions" about the conduct of executives at News International.
The announcement by News International that this Sunday's News of the World will be the last does not alter the need for a full public inquiry into phone hacking and related matters.
Indeed James Murdoch's statement raises further questions about the conduct of senior figures at the company. We feel that the closure of a 168-year-old title, with the consequent loss of jobs, is a destructive act which actually underlines the need to get to the truth.
Hacked Off will continue to press for a judge-led public inquiry, with full powers to establish:
· The extent of the use of illegal information-gathering methods by the press, directly and through intermediaries;
· The conduct of the Metropolitan Police Service in investigating these matters, and its relations with the press;
· The communication between press and politicians in relation to these matters;
· The conduct of the Press Complaints Commission and of the Information Commissioner, and of other relevant parties such as mobile telephone companies;
· The lessons to be learned from these events and actions to be taken to ensure they are not repeated.
7.32pm: Dan Sabbagh has been told by News Corporation sources that Rebekah Brooks did not offer to resign.
Earlier reports suggested News of the World journalists were told Brooks had offered to resign twice.
7.29pm: Benji Lanyado has been following the Labour MP Chris Bryant's comments to the BBC news channel. (Bryant is a suspected hacking victim himself).
"A cynical move," Bryant said.
Another attempt to evade responsibility, Everything today proves that there is another layer of despicable behavior there. People carrying the can are the writers.
If Rebekah Brooks had a single shred of decency in her she would resign. If she won't resign, James Murdoch shows a singular lack of judgement.
He added: "We will look back on this and say this was the biggest scandal in british journalism and policing in 50 years."
7.25pm: Tom Watson has said there is more evidence to come which will implicate more News International newspapers.
The Labour MP, who has been one of the key players in driving the phone hacking agenda, told Channel 4 news that there is more evidence against the Murdoch empire, which involves "the use of computer hacking", and will "cross over into other News International newspapers".
7.21pm: Worth reading this Adam Curtis blog charting the history of Rupert Murdoch's rise through the UK media, and how he seized control of the News of the World back in 1969:
The News of the World was a salacious rag, but it was run by Sir William Carr who was a member of an old establishment family. He had already received a hostile bid from the publisher Robert Maxwell. Carr hated Maxwell because he was not British (he was Czech).
Then Murdoch arrived. He wasn't British either, but he told Sir William he would buy the paper but they would run it jointly together.
Maxwell warned Sir William not to trust Murdoch. He told him - "You will be out before your feet touch the ground".
Sir William replied - "Bob, Rupert is a gentleman"
But Lady Carr began to worry. She took Rupert Murdoch out to lunch in Mayfair. She reported that he had little small talk, no sense of humour and that he had lit up a cigar before the first course.
The BBC got interested in Murdoch - and they put out a profile of him. It was shot with him at work and at home in Australia. It has a great interview with Murdoch's secretary about what a sensitive man he is - and how upset he gets when he has to fire someone.
Robert Maxwell would go on to become one of the greatest criminals in British business history. And then he would fall off a boat in the Atlantic and drown in 1991
But Robert Maxwell was right in his warning. Within three months Murdoch forced Sir William Carr out - and took over complete control.
7.17pm: BSkyB's market value has fallen by the curious figure of £666m this week, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports.
Over in New York, News Corporation shares have been clawing back the losses suffered yesterday. At one stage they were trading at $18.23, up 1.6%, on optimism that Murdoch had somehow fixed his problems. More recently, though, they've been losing some ground. As things stand, News Corp is worth roughly $400m less than at the start of this remarkable week.
The news broke just after trading ended in London, so we won't see how BSkyB shares react until 8am on Friday. They closed at 812p in London, compared with 850p last Friday evening. That means that the value of BSkyB has fallen by £666m this week. Coincidence, I'm sure.....
The immediate reaction from financial analysts is that closing the News of the World is a classic Murdoch move, which might keep the BSkyB takeover deal on track. There's also been chatter on Wall Street that News Corp might be better off without those pesky newspapers.
Louise Cooper, market analyst at BGC Partners, is one of the first to react: "Mr Murdoch was clearly not willing to jeopardise his bid for Sky - talk of the media regulator looking at whether News International was a "fit and proper" owner must have been a wake up call and clearly not a risk he wanted to take given the scale of the rest of his UK media business. The financial impact of the paper's closure will be small to the group, far less than the value wiped off the News International's share price by the scandal."
Stephen Adam of Aegon Asset Management, a BSkyB shareholder, has said the closure is "a reflection of News Corp's desire to progress the BSkyB bid". But Reuters have also spoken to an unnamed banker who predicts further scalps at the company, including Rebekah Brooks.
"People are out for blood," he said.
We also received an interesting research note from Nomura earlier. This line, about the UK newspaper division, is worth mentioning - "Perhaps ironic is the fact that the least valued division of the corporation by investors is creating the most negative headlines".
7.13pm: Krishnan Guru-Murthy tells Channel 4 news that there was a "lynch mob mentality" after News of the World were told the news.
Rebekah Brooks was reportedly escorted from the building by security staff.
7.10pm: James Murdoch has said that Rebekah Brooks's leadership is "crucial", my colleague Benji Lanyado reports.
"Brooks' leadership of the company is the right thing," Murdoch Jr said.
"She is doing the right thing. Her leadership is crucial right now."
@frasereC4 Exclusive: #NOTW phone hacking private investigator Glenn Mulcaire tells Channel 4 News he lost his "moral compass"
6.59pm: Peter Walker has been compiling some of the reaction from News of the World journalists to the news that the paper will close.
"Just lost my job on the News of the World. Absolutely devastated that a talented group of people are suffering right now," tweeted Tina Campanella, a news reporter at the paper, roughly half an hour after it emerged this afternoon that this Sunday's edition of her paper would be the last.
Tom Latchem, the TV editor summed it up thus: "Thanks for all your kind words all – we will all survive, nobody died. Viva NOTW!!" Another senior staff member, Rachel Richardson, editor of the Fabulous magazine supplement, wrote: "Feeling pretty numb right now but wanted to say long live @Fabulousmag. The best mag team in Fleet Street. Fact."
Others rounded on the Twitter hordes rejoicing at the paper's demise. Ian Hyland, a columnist, entered into a somewhat bruising tweet exchange with the comedian Rufus Hound. It ended with Hyland labelling his opponent a "right tit".
Outsiders piled in to make similar points, one freelance journalist noting: "My mate with 4 kids, not a hacker, honest journo, now lost his job, shame on the bosses at #NOTW." He added, in a sentiment not publicly expressed by the paper's staff but surely shared by many: "But at least Rebekah Brooks has still got her job, Jesus!!!!"
6.52pm: Rebekah Brooks "offered her resignation twice", but it was turned down both times, News of the World staff were reportedly told today.
Journalist Neal Mann, a prolific news tweeter under the @fieldproducer moniker, posts:
@fieldproducer Source tells me News Of The World journalists were told Rebecca Brooks offered her resignation twice and she was turned down both times
@fieldproducer I'm told all journalists at the News of the World cheered when a staff member said they would accept her resignation #NOTW
6.49pm: Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist who broke the phone hacking story, talks of how the scandal has escalated in this video.
-
6.47pm: Milly Dowler's family's solicitor Mark Lewis said the closure "won't make any difference at all to anybody's civil claims".
"Any crimes, any phone hacking, any other activities that were done weren't done by the News of the World, they were done by people working for it," he told Sky News.
It's sad that other people have been sacrificed, will lose their jobs, but the people who are responsible are still there.
They're going to be subject to criminal inquiries and, if appropriate, prosecutions, but the management of News International stays the same.
There are questions asked about Rebekah Brooks. She was editor of the News of the World at the time the Milly Dowler situation was happening.
She is still in her post. So she might be crying at other people losing their jobs, but perhaps she ought to lose her job and let them have theirs.
Yet another prominent figure in the phone hacking story to say that the closure does not resolve the problem.
6.44pm: So it must be an incredibly chaotic evening for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has been under huge pressure to halt News Corporation's bid to take full control over BSkyB. In addition he now has the closure of the country's best selling newspaper on his hands, as well as senior government figures insisting this is not enough and Rebekah Brooks must step aside.
Oh, and there's a Harry Potter premiere too:
@Jeremy_Hunt World Premiere of #HarryPotter outside @DCMS tonight. Congrats to @wbpictures & @jk_rowling for over 10 years of British films at their best
(Thanks to colleague Benji Lanyado for the link).
6.40pm: Reports that the NUJ is to strike on 15 July and 29 July – according to BBC journalist Nick Lawrence.
More as we get it.
6.39pm: Bit of a common theme developing in reaction to the News of the World closure – that it does not resolve the problem.
Liberal Democrat media spokesman Don Foster has said the demise of the News of the World was not the end of the matter.
"This is a commercial decision that will affect many staff who had nothing to do with the phone hacking scandal," he said.
"We need to find out the full extent of the phone hacking scandal and of the alleged police corruption and see those responsible for these vile actions prosecuted before we can close this dark chapter in British media history."
The comments echo those of John Prescott and Ed Miliband.
6.34pm: Unconfirmed, but the BBC is reporting that a "small group of Sun reporters" have walked out of their office in a show of solidarity with their Sunday colleagues.
6.35pm: Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, one of the alleged victims of phone hacking, has said that closing the paper would not resolve the problems at News International.
"Cutting off the arm doesn't mean to say you've solved it. There is still the body and the head and the same culture and that's why there has be a public inquiry into it," Prescott said.
I cannot accept for a moment that at the top of the company, Mr Murdoch - certainly Rebekah Brooks - didn't know what was going on.
Now some poor suckers on the News of the World are now going to be put on the dole simply because they've decided to make a cost-cutting exercise which they said they were going to do a week or so ago.
6.33pm: Henry McDonald writes that the son of Northern Ireland's former First Minister Ian Paisley has welcomed the closure of the News of the World.
Ian Paisley Junior said the shut down of the tabloid was a "major indication of guilt" and should prompt a full public inquiry into the phone hacking saga.
"This is absolutely outstanding news," the North Antrim Democratic Unionist told Ulster Television tonight.
He also claimed that he too may been the victim of the News of the World's phone hackers.
"It indicates to me a major indication of guilt and fact that News International could not sustain the overturning of a stone and all that would have crawled out from underneath it.
"If anything sustains the call for a full public inquiry into what was taking place it must be this admission. There is clearly now room to look into why such a drastic action was required because clearly what was going on there was completely untoward and unacceptable," Paisley junior said.
Henry adds that the Irish edition of the News of the World will also close – "despite having a healthy circulation both in the Republic and Northern Ireland".
"In recent years the Sunday tabloid had de
Is Murdoch free to destroy tabloid’s records? | MediaFile
Is Murdoch free to destroy tabloid’s records?
By Alison Frankel
The views expressed are her own.Here’s some News of the World news to spin the heads of American lawyers. According to British media law star Mark Stephens of Finers Stephens Innocent (whom The Times of London has dubbed “Mr Media”), Rupert Murdoch’s soon-to-be shuttered tabloid may not be obliged to retain documents that could be relevant to civil and criminal claims against the newspaper—even in cases that are already underway. That could mean that dozens of sports, media, and political celebrities who claim News of the World hacked into their telephone accounts won’t be able to find out exactly what the tabloid knew and how it got the information.
If News of the World is to be liquidated, Stephens told Reuters, it “is a stroke of genius—perhaps evil genius.”
Under British law, Stephens explained, all of the assets of the shuttered newspaper, including its records, will be transferred to a professional liquidator (such as a global accounting firm). The liquidator’s obligation is to maximize the estate’s assets and minimize its liabilities. So the liquidator could be well within its discretion to decide News of the World would be best served by defaulting on pending claims rather than defending them. That way, the paper could simply destroy its documents to avoid the cost of warehousing them—and to preclude any other time bombs contained in News of the World’s records from exploding.
“Why would the liquidator want to keep [the records]?” Stephens said. “Minimizing liability is the liquidator’s job.”
That’s a very different scenario, Stephens said, from what would happen if a newspaper in the U.S. went into bankruptcy. In the U.S., a plaintiff (or, for that matter, a criminal investigator) could obtain a court order barring that kind of document destruction. In the U.K., there’s no requirement that the estate retain its records, nor any law granting plaintiffs a right to stop the liquidator from getting rid of them.
BBC - Adam Curtis Blog: RUPERT MURDOCH - A PORTRAIT OF SATAN
RUPERT MURDOCH - A PORTRAIT OF SATAN
Rupert Murdoch doesn't like the BBC
And sometimes the BBC doesn't seem to like Rupert Murdoch either.
Following the principle that you should know your enemy, the BBC has assiduously recorded the relentless rise of Rupert Murdoch and his assault on the old "decadent" elites of Britain.
And I thought it would be interesting to put up some of the high points.
It is also a good way to examine how far his populist rhetoric is genuine, and how far its is a smokescreen to disguise the interests of another elite.
As a balanced member of the BBC - I leave it to you to decide.
Murdoch first appears in the BBC archive in a short fragment without commentary shot in 1968. It shows him ambling into the City of London on his way to see Sir Humphrey Mynors who was head of the City Takeover Panel
Murdoch was going to ask Sir Humphrey for permission to take over the News of the World. Then he is interviewed afterwards.
The News of the World was a salacious rag, but it was run by Sir William Carr who was a member of an old establishment family. He had already received a hostile bid from the publisher Robert Maxwell. Carr hated Maxwell because he was not British (he was Czech).
Then Murdoch arrived. He wasn't British either, but he told Sir William he would buy the paper but they would run it jointly together.
Maxwell warned Sir William not to trust Murdoch. He told him - "You will be out before your feet touch the ground".
Sir William replied - "Bob, Rupert is a gentleman"
But Lady Carr began to worry. She took Rupert Murdoch out to lunch in Mayfair. She reported that he had little small talk, no sense of humour and that he had lit up a cigar before the first course.
The BBC got interested in Murdoch - and they put out a profile of him. It was shot with him at work and at home in Australia. It has a great interview with Murdoch's secretary about what a sensitive man he is - and how upset he gets when he has to fire someone.
The News of the World battle ended at a showdown at the shareholders meeting in January 1969. The BBC had a camera inside. Here are some of the shots - again without any commentary.
The shareholders were being asked to accept Murdoch's offer.
It has great bits with Robert Maxwell huffing and puffing about how Murdoch hasn't played by the rules. Murdoch's response - "Yesterday Mr Maxwell called me a moth-eaten kangaroo. I'd like to point out that I haven't yet got to that stage"
Robert Maxwell would go on to become one of the greatest criminals in British business history. And then he would fall off a boat in the Atlantic and drown in 1991
But Robert Maxwell was right in his warning. Within three months Murdoch forced Sir William Carr out - and took over complete control.
Carr died in 1977. Murdoch offered to pay for a memorial service. But a proud Lady Carr refused.
The British establishment decided Murdoch was not a gentleman. And then he did something much worse. He announced he was going to publish the memoirs of Christine Keeler in the News of the World. Keeler was a "model" whose liaison with a government minister John Profumo in 1963 had ruined Harold MacMillan's government.
But since then Profumo had redeemed himself in the eyes of the establishment by going off to work for a charity in the east end of London. So when the News of the World published the sordid details of the affair, the whole of London society was scandalised. Murdoch was unearthing a scandal that should have been dead and buried, and destroying one of their own.
And, they said, he was doing it with the sole interest of lining his own pocket. Murdoch was seen as sleazy and destructive.
And this is where his monstrous image began. The man who had first taught Murdoch journalism on the Daily Express in the 1950s summed it up:
"The trouble is - Rupert was regarded as the Supreme Satan"
And he had also just bought the Sun.
So the BBC decided to make a longer, more probing profile. And to do it they sent a key member of the broadcasting elite - David Dimbleby.
The film is surprisingly fair - given the outrage. Dimbleby puts the accusations to Murdoch, but he also flirts with him, and with Murdoch's wife Anna. It is fascinating to watch Murdoch's face as Dimbleby does this. You can see him beginning to realise just how the British establishment really operates.
The Canadian in spectacles who appears first is Lord Thomson of Fleet - head of a global newspaper empire. He owned the Times in Britain.
The man chairing the editorial conference with Murdoch is the News of the World editor Stafford Somerfield. He was a legendary Fleet Street figure. A few months later Murdoch would sack him.
Somerfield then went off and edited a magazine about pedigree dogs - and became a judge at Crufts.
This rejection by the British establishment was one of the main reasons why Murdoch decided to leave Britain in 1973. He took his family and went to live in New York while still running the News of the World and the Sun in Britain. He talked about his reasons in an interview he gave to a left-wing journalist called Alexander Cockburn in 1976 in the Village Voice.
Although, as the consummate newsman, Murdoch turns it round and portrays it as him rejecting them. And you can see his guiding myth beginning to take shape here - the revolutionary outsider against the decadent British system.
Then in 1981 Rupert Murdoch returned to Britain and took his revenge. He bought the Times.
It was an act that united both the liberal elites and many old Tories in shock and outrage. This got worse when Mrs Thatcher's government allowed the takeover to proceed without it being referred to the Monopolies Commission. Under law this should have happened, but the government excused it with the flimsy excuse that neither the Times nor the Sunday Times actually made money.
There was a growing sense that Murdoch was now manipulating British politicians for his own personal gain. So the BBC decided to investigate Murdoch's business and personal background.
A Panorama was made called "Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?" It was in two parts. First is a film which tells the story of Murdoch's rise to power in Australia, Britain and America. And then he is interviewed live in the studio by yet again - David Dimbleby.
The film is tough. And Murdoch is made to sit and watch it in the studio as he waits for the interview. It lays out and reports all the accusations that would become the foundation for future criticism of the way Murdoch both built and ran his media empire.
-That he takes over intelligent newspapers and turns them into trash. As the ex-editor of the New York Post says - "he took it towards a readership we believed didn't exist"
-That his critics say he turns the news reporting in his newspapers into a propaganda wing of his chosen editorial line, and then uses that to destroy politicians he doesn't like and help elect those he does.
- It describes the scandal in America when Murdoch got a massive favourable loan from the US government just after he had endorsed Jimmy Carter in the New York primary. Murdoch denies there was any connection.
- And it reports the outrage in New York over the sensational way his newspapers reported the serial Killer Son of Sam. Headlines personally overseen by Murdoch that seemed, it was alleged by other journalists, to turn a brutal killer into a celebrity.
- And it gave the American liberals a chance to reveal that they too now hated Rupert Murdoch as much as the British elites. "He is a force for evil" says the head of the Columbia Journalism review rather smugly.
And then Murdoch is given a chance to respond. Here are the parts of the interview where Murdoch takes on those allegations and responds with what was now his central argument.
That he is engaged in a war on elitism - both on journalism in America and the "typical piece of slanting and elitism" that he has just had to watch. Made by the BBC.
It now became his mantra. Anything that was "elitist" could be a legitimate target.In 1986 Murdoch moved all his operations out of Fleet street to Wapping. The print unions went on strike - only to discover they had fallen into his trap. Murdoch promptly sacked them. The unions, he said, were another part of the decadent elites that were preventing Murdoch performing his proper role - making sure the market system served the people properly.
There was massive TV coverage of the outrage. But the BBC made an interesting programme that looked beyond Murdoch's rhetoric and linked the move to Wapping to what Murdoch was doing in America.
Murdoch had bought Twentieth Century Fox and then, in the months before Wapping, a chain of TV stations called Metromedia (they would become Fox TV). He was massively in debt, and the only way for his empire to survive, it was alleged, was to get more money out of his original purchases - the News of the World and the Sun.
The BBC programme was made by Robert Harris. He went and interviewed one of the American bankers involved in the deal - from Drexel Burnham Lambert - who says that the move to Wapping immediately increased the value of the British papers by over 300%.
Or as one of the union men says in the programme - "British workers are being forced to lose their jobs to fund his investments in America"
In 1989 - on the 20th anniversary of buying the Sun - Murdoch helped write an editorial that trumpeted his vision of himself as a revolutionary:
'The Establishment does not like the Sun. Never has
There is a growing band of people in positions of influence and privilege who want OUR newspaper to suit THEIR private convenience. They wish to conceal from readers' eyes anything that they find annoying or embarrassing.
LIVING LIES AND HYPOCRISY ON HIGH CAN HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR SOCIETY
IT IS THE STRUGGLE OF ALL THOSE CONCERNED FOR FREEDOM IN BRITAIN.'
But the liberal elite were already fighting a counterattack. It had begun with the chat-show host Russell Harty the year before as he lay dying in a hospital bed from hepatitis.
Harty was a homosexual who had been hounded by the News of the World. With his illness this had turned into a media frenzy - with reporters from all the tabloids pursueing him in hospital, posing as junior doctors demanding see Harty's medical notes, and photographers renting a flat opposite his hotel room.
At Harty's funeral in 1988 the playwright Alan Bennett publicly accused the tabloid press of accelerating his friend's death. "The gutter press finished him"
The Sun chose to reply:
'Stress did not kill Russell Harty. The truth is that he died from a sexually transmitted disease.
The press didn't give it to him. He caught it from his own choice. And by paying young rent boys he broke the law.
Some - like ageing bachelor Mr Bennett - can see no harm in that. He has no family.
But what if it had been YOUR son Harty had bedded?'
The BBC decided to quiz Rupert Murdoch. And they chose not David Dimbleby but their main attack dog.
Terry Wogan.
Murdoch was agreeing to interviews at the time because he was promoting his new Sky TV.
It is a very odd episode. Wogan starts off in an embarrassed way - asking Murdoch "is it difficult for you to keep a grasp of reality?". Then he attacks him in a chat show way about his behaviour towards "other chat show hosts" and he manages to get the audience to boo Murdoch.
The only other guest on the programme was someone from the very heart of the British establishment. The Duke of Westminster. Wogan interviews him in a creepy way about the Duke's good works for charity.
A balanced programme.
Here are some parts of the Murdoch interview.
And then came the Sun's distorted reporting of the Hillsborough tragedy which disgusted even some of Murdoch's most fervent supporters .
All this was a disaster for Murdoch the revolutionary. When the 1992 general election began Labour announced that if they won they would introduce new cross-media ownership rules - and force Mr Murdoch to break up his empire.
This would mean he would either have to give up his new dream - the satellite TV station Sky - or he would have to sell his newspapers.
One of Murdoch's biographers says that no other company in Britain stood to lose so much from a Labour victory in 1992 as News Corporation.
And the Sun launched a massive campaign against Labour. Ending on the day before polling with a famous cover. While inside on page three there was an overweight old woman in a swimsuit with the caption - "Here's what Page Three will look like under Labour"
When Murdoch heard the news that John Major had been re-elected he was on the lot at Twentieth Century Fox. He said two words:
"We won"
The key to Murdoch is how you interpret the word WE. Did he mean "We the people" - and that he truly is a populist revolutionary?
Or did he mean by "we" the new financial elite that had risen up in the 1980s that was using debt and junk bonds to break into the old corporations and businesses?
One man who thought he had the answer was one of Murdoch's closest allies who a few years later would come to believe he had been ruthlessly betrayed by Murdoch.
He was the journalist Woodrow Wyatt. Wyatt had been very close to Mrs Thatcher throughout the 1980s and he had become what he proudly called "Rupert's Fixer". But secretly Wyatt was writing a diary every day recording not just his life within the establishment but also his day to day dealings with Rupert Murdoch.
The diaries are wonderful. And in them Murdoch is a dark, silent figure - always listening on the other end of a phone somewhere in America or Australia as Wyatt tells him the inner secrets of the powerful people who run Britain.
But then - in 1995 - Murdoch begins to change. He decides he likes Tony Blair and tells Wyatt he may support him at the coming election. Wyatt can't believe it. He had thought that Murdoch would always support the Conservatives.
And then Murdoch does something worse. He tells the editor of the News of the World to cut back on the column that he had allowed Wyatt to write every week.
Wyatt is in despair. There is a wonderful moment in the diaries when Wyatt sleeps all night on the floor of his study next to the phone waiting for Murdoch to ring.
He never does.
And then - towards the end - Wyatt pours out the truth (as he sees it) about Murdoch. It is in a diatribe to one of Murdoch's American advisers, the economist Irwin Stelzer.
Wyatt cannot believe the treachery. He was the man who fixed it so Mrs Thatcher wouldn't refer the Times purchase to the Monopolies Commission. And now Murdoch is betraying him and turning to Blair.
Like a flash of lightning on a dark night Wyatt believes he sees Murdoch's true relationship to power.
And then in 1997 when Murdoch comes out for Blair, Wyatt has only one line.
Android 3.1 Platform Highlights | Android Developers
Android 3.1 Platform Highlights
Welcome to Android 3.1!
Android 3.1 is an incremental platform release that refines many of the features introduced in Android 3.0. It builds on the same tablet-optimized UI and features offered in Android 3.0 and adds several new capabilities for users and developers. This document provides an overview of the new features and technologies introduced in Android 3.1. For a more detailed look at new developer APIs, see the API Overview document.
For a high-level introduction to Android 3.0, please see the Android 3.0 Platform Highlights.
New User Features
Figure 1. An Android 3.1 Home screen.UI refinements
The Android 3.1 platform adds a variety of refinements to make the user interface more intuitive and more efficient to use.
UI transitions are improved throughout the system and across the standard apps. The Launcher animation is optimized for faster, smoother transition to and from the Apps list. Adjustments in color, positioning, and text make UI elements easier to see, understand, and use. Accessibility is improved with consistent audible feedback throughout the UI and a new setting to let users customize the touch-hold interval to meet their needs.
Navigation to and from the five home screens is now easier — touching the Home button in the system bar now takes you to the home screen most recently used. Settings offers an improved view of internal storage, showing the storage used by a larger set of file types.
Connectivity for USB accessories
Android 3.1 adds broad platform support for a variety of USB-connected peripherals and accessories. Users can attach many types of input devices (keyboards, mice, game controllers) and digital cameras. Applications can build on the platform’s USB support to extend connectivity to almost any type of USB device.
The platform also adds new support for USB accessories — external hardware devices designed to attach to Android-powered devices as USB hosts. When an accessory is attached, the framework will look for a corresponding application and offer to launch it for the user. The accessory can also present a URL to the user, for downloading an appropriate application if one is not already installed. Users can interact with the application to control powered accessories such as robotics controllers; docking stations; diagnostic and musical equipment; kiosks; card readers; and much more.
The platform’s USB capabilities rely on components in device hardware, so support for USB on specific devices may vary and is determined by device manufacturers.
Figure 2. The Recent Apps menu is now expandable and scrollable.Expanded Recent Apps list
For improved multitasking and instant visual access to a much larger number of apps, the Recent Apps list is now expandable. Users can now scroll the list of recent apps vertically to see thumbnail images all of the tasks in progress and recently used apps, then touch a thumbnail to jump back into that task.
Resizeable Home screen widgets
For more flexible Home screen customization, users can now resize their Home screen widgets using drag bars provided by the system. Users can expand widgets both horizontally and/or vertically to include more content, where supported by each widget.
Support for external keyboards and pointing devices
Users can now attach almost any type of external keyboard or mouse to their Android-powered devices, to create a familiar environment and work more efficiently. One or more input devices can be attached to the system simultaneously over USB and/or Bluetooth HID, in any combination. No special configuration or driver is needed, in most cases. When multiple devices are connected, users can conveniently manage the active keyboard and IME using the keyboard settings that are available from the System bar.
For pointing devices, the platform supports most types of mouse with a single button and optionally a scroll wheel, as well as similar devices such as trackballs. When these are connected, users can interact with the UI using point, select, drag, scroll, hover, and other standard actions.
Support for joysticks and gamepads
To make the platform even better for gaming, Android 3.1 adds support for most PC joysticks and gamepads that are connected over USB or Bluetooth HID.
For example, users can connect PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® game controllers over USB (but not Bluetooth), Logitech Dual Action™ gamepads and flight sticks, or a car racing controller. Game controllers that use proprietary networking or pairing are not supported by default, but in general, the platform supports most PC-connectible joysticks and gamepads.
Robust Wi-Fi networking
Android 3.1 adds robust Wi-Fi features, to make sure that users and their apps can take full advantage of higher-speed Wi-Fi access at home, at work, and while away.
A new high-performance Wi-Fi lock lets applications maintain high-performance Wi-Fi connections even when the device screen is off. Users can take advantage of this to play continuous streamed music, video, and voice services for long periods, even when the device is otherwise idle and the screen is off.
Users can now configure an HTTP proxy for each individual Wi-Fi access point, by touch-hold of the access point in Settings. The browser uses the HTTP proxy when communicating with the network over the access point and other apps may also choose to do so. The platform also provides backup and restore of the user-defined IP and proxy settings.
The platform adds support for Preferred Network Offload (PNO), a background scanning capability that conserves battery power savings in cases where Wi-Fi needs to be available continuously for long periods of time.
Updated set of standard apps
The Android 3.1 platform includes an updated set of standard applications that are optimized for use on larger screen devices. The sections below highlight some of the new features.
Figure 3. Quick Controls menu in the Browser.Browser
The Browser app includes a variety of new features and UI improvements that make viewing web content simpler, faster, and more convenient.
The Quick Controls UI, accessible from Browser Settings, is extended and redesigned. Users can now use the controls to view thumbnails of open tabs and close the active tab, as well as access the overflow menu for instant access to Settings and other controls.
To ensure a consistent viewing experience, the Browser extends it's support for popular web standards such as CSS 3D, animations, and CSS fixed positioning to all sites, mobile or desktop. It also adds support for embedded playback of HTML5 video content. To make it easier to manage favorite content, users can now save a web page locally for offline viewing, including all styling and images. For convenience when visiting Google sites, an improved auto-login UI lets users sign in quickly and manage access when multiple users are sharing a device.
For best performance, the Browser adds support for plugins that use hardware accelerated rendering. Page zoom performance is also dramatically improved, making it faster to navigate and view web pages.
Gallery
The Gallery app now supports Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP), so that users can connect their cameras over USB and import their pictures to Gallery with a single touch. The app also copies the pictures to local storage and provides an indicator to let users see how much space is available.
Figure 4. Home screen widgets can now be resized.Calendar
Calendar grids are larger, for better readability and more accurate touch-targeting. Additionally, users can create a larger viewing area for grids by hiding the calendar list controls. Controls in the date picker are redesigned, making them easier to see and use.
Contacts
The Contacts app now lets you locate contacts more easily using full text search. Search returns matching results from all fields that are stored for a contact.
When replying or forwarding an HTML message, The Email app now sends both plain text and HTML bodies as a multi-part mime message. This ensures that the message will be formatted properly for all recipients. Folder prefixes for IMAP accounts are now easier to define and manage. To conserve battery power and minimize cell data usage, the application now prefetches email from the server only when the device is connected to a Wi-Fi access point.
An updated Home screen widget give users quick access to more email. Users can touch Email icon at the top of the widget to cycle through labels such as Inbox, Unread, and Starred. The widget itself is now resizable, both horizontally and vertically.
Enterprise support
Users can now configure an HTTP proxy for each connected Wi-Fi access point. This lets administrators work with users to set a proxy hostname, port, and any bypass subdomains. This proxy configuration is automatically used by the Browser when the Wi-Fi access point is connected, and may optionally be used by other apps. The proxy and IP configuration is now backed up and restored across system updates and resets.
To meet the needs of tablet users, the platform now allows a "encrypted storage card" device policy to be accepted on devices with emulated storage cards and encrypted primary storage.
New Developer Features
The Android 3.1 platform adds refinements and new capabilities that developers can build on, to create powerful and engaging application experiences on tablets and other large-screen devices.
Open Accessory API for rich interaction with peripherals
Android 3.1 introduces a new API for integrating hardware accessories with applications running on the platform. The API provides a way to interact across a wide range of peripherals, from robotics controllers to musical equipment, exercise bicycles, and more.
The API is based on a new USB (Universal Serial Bus) stack and services that are built into the platform. The platform provides services for discovering and identifying connected hardware, as well as for notifying interested applications that the hardware is available.
When a user plugs in a USB accessory, the platform receives identifying information such as product name, accessory type, manufacturer, and version. The platform sets up communication with the accessory and uses its information to notify and launch a targeted app, if one is available. Optionally, an accessory can provide a URL that lets users find and download an app that works with the accessory. These discovery features make first-time setup easier for the user and ensure that an appropriate application is available for interacting with the connected hardware.
For application developers and accessory manufacturers, accessory mode offers many new ways to engage users and build powerful interaction experiences with connected hardware.
To learn more about how to develop applications that interact with accessories, see the USB Accessory documentation.
USB host API
Android 3.1 provides built-in platform support for USB host mode and exposes an API that lets applications manage connected peripherals. On devices that support host mode, applications can use the API to identify and communicate with connected devices such as audio devices. input devices, communications devices, hubs, cameras, and more.
To learn more about how to develop applications that interact with USB devices, see the USB Host documentation.
Input from mice, joysticks, and gamepads
Android 3.1 extends the input event system to support a variety of new input sources and motion events, across all views and windows. Developers can build on these capabilities to let users interact with their applications using mice, trackballs, joysticks, gamepads, and other devices, in addition to keyboards and touchscreens.
For mouse and trackball input, the platform supports two new motion event actions: scroll (horizontal or vertical) such as from a scrollwheel; and hover, which reports the location of the mouse when no buttons are pressed. Applications can handle these events in any way needed.
For joysticks and gamepads, the platform provides a large number of motion axes that applications can use from a given input source, such as X, Y, Hat X, Hat Y, rotation, throttle, pressure, size, touch, tool, orientation, and others. Developers can also define custom axes if needed, to capture motion in additional ways. The platform provides motion events to applications as a batch, and applications can query the details of the movements included in the batch, for more efficient and precise handling of events.
Applications can query for the list of connected input devices and the motion ranges (axes) supported by each device. Applications can also handle multiple input and motion events from a single input device. For example, an application can use mouse and joystick and mouse event sources from a single input device.
Resizable Home screen widgets
Developers can now create Home screen widgets that users can resize horizontally, vertically, or both. By simply adding an attribute to the declaration of a widget, the widget becomes resizable horizontally, vertically, or both. This lets users customize the display of the widget content and display more of it on their Home screens.
MTP API for integrating with external cameras
In Android 3.1, a new MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) API lets developers write apps that interact directly with connected cameras and other PTP devices. The new API makes it easy for applications to receive notifications when devices are attached and removed, manage files and storage on those devices, and transfer files and metadata to and from them. The MTP API implements the PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) subset of the MTP specification.
RTP API, for control over audio streaming sessions
Android 3.1 exposes an API to its built-in RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) stack, which applications can use to directly manage on-demand or interactive data streaming. In particular, apps that provide VOIP, push-to-talk, conferencing, and audio streaming can use the API to initiate sessions and transmit or receive data streams over any available network.
Performance optimizations
Android 3.1 includes a variety of performance optimizations that help make applications faster and more responsive. Some of the optimizations include:
- A new LRU cache class lets applications benefit from efficient caching. Applications can use the class to reduce the time spent computing or downloading data from the network, while maintaining a sensible memory footprint for the cached data.
- The UI framework now supports partial invalidates in hardware-accelerated Views, which makes drawing operations in those Views more efficient.
- A new graphics method,
setHasAlpha(), allows apps to hint that a given bitmap is opaque. This provides an extra performance boost for some types of blits and is especially useful for applications that use ARGB_8888 bitmaps.
ISPs to Disrupt Internet Access of Copyright Scofflaws | Threat Level
The nation’s major internet service providers, at the urging of Hollywood and the major record labels, have agreed to disrupt internet access for online copyright scofflaws.
The deal, almost three years in the making, was announced early Thursday, and includes participation by AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon. After four copyright offenses, the historic plan calls for these companies to initiate so-called “mitigation measures” (.pdf) that might include reducing internet speeds and redirecting a subscriber’s service to an “educational” landing page about infringement.
The internet companies may eliminate service altogether for repeat file sharing offenders, although the plan does not directly call for such drastic action.
The agreement, backed by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, also does not require internet service providers to filter copyrighted material sailing through peer-to-peer protocols. U.S. internet service providers and the content industry have openly embraced filtering, and the Federal Communications Commission has all but invited the ISPs to practice it.
“This is a sensible approach to the problem of online content theft,” said Randal Milch, Verizon’s general counsel. Cary Sherman, the RIAA’s president, said the deal was “groundbreaking” and “ushers in a new day and a fresh approach to addressing the digital theft of copyrighted works.”
The RIAA, which includes Universal Music Group Recordings, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music North America, kicked off the marathon negotiations in December 2008, when it abruptly stopped a litigation campaign that included around 30,000 lawsuits targeting individual file sharers.
Key leverage in the marathon negotiations included the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which demands that ISPs have a termination policy in place for repeat infringers. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo brought the parties together when he was that state’s attorney general.
Michael O’Leary, an MPAA vice president, said the industry will continue to push for federal legislation that would dramatically increase the government’s legal power to disrupt and shutter websites dedicated to infringing activities. That legislation is blocked in the Senate.
“That is an important priority,” he said during a telephone conference, noting that a House version of the stalled Senate legislation is to be introduced soon. The White House applauded the plan, too, saying it will “have a significant impact on reducing online piracy.”
The Center for Democracy & Technology, along with Public Knowledge, said in a joint statement they were concerned about the accord. “We believe it would be wrong for any ISP to cut off subscribers, even temporarily, based on allegations that have not been tested in court,” the groups said.
Corynne McSherry, the intellectual property director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also had concerns. She added, in a telephone interview, that the EFF was “pretty disappointed that ISPs have agreed to serve as a propaganda agent for big media.”
Thursday’s plan, meanwhile, provides no immunity for internet subscribers facing legal action, and leaves it up to the rights holders to detect infringement.
“As provided under current law, copyright owners may also seek remedies directly against the owner of an internet account based on evidence they may collect,” according to the deal. Sherman said in the telephone conference that the RIAA does “not rule out the possibility of bringing litigation” against repeat file sharing offenders.
The Copyright Act allows damages of up to $150,000 per infringement. Peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted works is easily detectable, as IP addresses of internet customers usually reveal themselves during the transfer of files.
On the first offense, internet subscribers will receive an e-mail “alert” from their ISP saying the account “may have been” misused for online content theft. On the second offense, the alert might contain an “educational message” about the legalities of online file sharing.
On the third and fourth infractions, the subscriber will likely receive a pop-up notice “asking the subscriber to acknowledge receipt of the alert.”
After four alerts, according to the program, “mitigation measures” may commence. They include “temporary reductions of internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright, or other measures (as specified in published policies) that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter.”
Online infringement, according to the MPAA and RIAA, accounts for thousands of lost jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages and taxes annually.
Members of the MPAA include Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios and Warner Bros.
Photo: Mike Licht, Notions Capital.com/Flickr
See Also:
- MPAA Waffling on Piracy Costs; RIAA Says Illicit CDs Worth $13.74
- RIAA, MPAA Converging on Political Conventions
- Imagine RIAA, MPAA in Control of Handbag Industry
- MPAA Says No Proof Needed in P2P Copyright Infringement Lawsuits
- Indie Filmmakers Sue Thousands of BitTorrent Users
- Obama: Stop Filling Administration with RIAA Insiders
- Top Internet Providers Cool to RIAA 3-Strikes Plan
- Analysis: RIAA Strategy Shift Mired in Murky Legal Waters
Joan Smith: My phone may have been hacked. So why wasn't I told? - Joan Smith, Commentators - The Independent
Joan Smith: My phone may have been hacked. So why wasn't I told?
I write crime novels, but I never imagined a plot as seedy as this one. The idea that I was targeted by a private investigator makes me feel sick and angry
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