Fox News Affiliated Company Says It Can Violate the Laws Against Hacking Because They Act in the Public Interest

Taking Self Righteousness and Arrogance to Levels Undreamed of

Britain has spent several years dealing with a phone hacking scandal carried on by companies owned and controlled by News Corp.  If anyone is wondering why a large international company is involved in illegal activity, the only explanation needed is that these companies are controlled by Rupert Murdoch, the man who also owns Fox News and directs its editorial biases.

Now it turns out that another Murdoch related company, one in which News Corp. has significant ownership was also involved in phone hacking.

Gerard Tubb, the broadcaster's northern England correspondent, accessed emails belonging to John Darwin, the "canoe man" accused of faking his own death, when his wife, Anne, was due to stand trial for deception in July 2008. The reporter built up a database of emails that he believed would help defeat Anne Darwin's defence; her husband had pleaded guilty to seven charges of deception before her trial.

The same reporter accessed the email accounts of a suspected paedophile and his wife in an investigation that did not lead to any material being published or broadcast, according to a statement sent to the Guardian by Sky, which is part-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Both instances of hacking were approved by Simon Cole, the managing editor of Sky News.

Now this is against the law in Britain, as well it should be.

intercepting emails is a prima facie breach of the Computer Misuse Act, to which there is no such defence written in law.

 But wait a minute, the company has an explanation for their illegal activity and instead of being prosecuted they should be hailed.  See they were acting in the 'public interest'.

John Ryley, the head of Sky News, said the broadcaster had "authorised a journalist to access the emails of individuals suspected of criminal activity" and the hacking in both cases was "justified and in the public interest". 

Yes this is arrogance on a scale previously thought to be unattainable, but remember who we have here.  Fox News has the gall to present obnoxious opinions as news, so any company associated with them would certainly feel they had the right to violate the law if in their sole determination such an action was in the ‘public interest’ and if, of course, no one found out about it.