From the Guardian story:

Confidential health records for Brown’s family have reached the media on two different occasions. In October 2006, the then editor of the Sun, Rebekah Brooks, contacted the Browns to tell them that they had obtained details from the medical file of their four-month-old son, Fraser, which revealed that the boy was suffering from cystic fibrosis. This appears to have been a clear breach of the Data Protection Act, which would allow such a disclosure only if it was in the public interest. Friends of the Browns say the call caused them immense distress, since they were only coming to terms with the diagnosis, which had not been confirmed. The Sun published the story.

Five years earlier, when their first child, Jennifer, was born on 28 December 2001, a small group of specialist doctors and nurses was aware that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage and was dying. By some means which has not been discovered, this highly sensitive information was obtained by news organisations, who published it over the weekend before Jennifer died, on Monday 6 January 2002.

I’m no fan of Brown the politician, but he’s still a human being like the rest of us, and the way that he and his family have apparently been treated here is nothing short of depraved.

I sincerely hope the Browns and all the other victims have their revenge on the sick fucks at News International.

I’m going to try to stifle my natural urge to see Murdoch’s papers cancelled. If they’ve truly behaved as claimed in the OP and comment 1, however, they deserve to go down.

BskyB is old news. What about the equation: NI+NSY+10DS = ?

I think the Times might get away with some stuff on the old “ends justifies the means” argument that most people instinctively believe. (Was the Telegraph really wrong to encourage law braking to bring us the expenses scandal?)

But any hint of any of them doing the rather less democratic version – and tapping phones for celebrity gossip or emotional impact – will force them to crash and burn.

And the fact that the leader of the opposition has seemingly ignored threats from News International designed to keep him in line shows just how bad things have got. If they can’t even keep a not particularly popular political leader in line by threatening to attack him and his staff – they really are losing influence.

Quite how they’ve kept Cameron on side is beyond me.

Of course I say that as some one who is appalled at the whole of News International all of the time anyway – and who has spent years leaving them messages saying so on my voicemail.

“Quite how they’ve kept Cameron on side is beyond me.”

Because the fact that he is a PR man at heart is coming home to roost. And because any damage to the Chipping Norton set strikes deep into his heart.

His loyalty to Coulson and Brooks is incredibly damaging.

I’m sure I’m not alone in experiencing SUCH Schadenfreude.

I think it is clear that the whole company is one giant organised crime outfit. Bribing police officers, blackmailing politicians, stealing peoples private data, interfering with on going criminal investigations, sitting on evidence. Rotten to the core. It is a form of Mafia crime family.

And all the while Murdoch parades around like a second rate Hugh Heffner with a carrot haired fat bitch, on his arm. Put him and his family in orange jumpsuits and take them in handcuffs to the international criminal court.

“Sky sources have said News Corp is not dropping its bid for BSkyB but has withdrawn its proposed undertakings to hive off Sky News as a separate company.”

Call me Dave should just tell them to fuck off. And if he requires any laws to be put in place to stop Murdoch, I’m sure there would be no problem getting them through in a few days.

It is time to cut this cancer out.

‘Bribing police officers, blackmailing politicians, stealing peoples private data, interfering with on going criminal investigations, sitting on evidence’

Good Lord, sounds like the New Labour spin machine. Ban this filth now.

I also note the Mirror ranks above the News of the World in newspapers found guilty of illegally paying for information. Somehow I can’t see Comrade Sally calling for legislation to destroy that particular ‘cancer’.

Tory trolls will always defend their right wing thug masters.

Could not give a shit what happens to the Daily Mirror.

Then are lucky the freedom of the press is determined by an angry little Stalinist bird.

*is not

@7

sally,

You know, the misogyny isn’t necessary. There are plenty of insults to be aimed at all involved without resorting to name-calling. I despise News Corp. as much as the next person with a soul, but still. Not Cool.

“Almost all of public sector services are to be opened up to competition from the private and voluntary sector, Prime Minister David Cameron announced today.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8630945/David-Cameron-public-services-to-be-opened-up-to-competition.html

Sad about Fred but no one had volunteered to cover that day.

With all the outrageous news about NI pouring out, today is a very good day for burying bad news.

Could people on both sides of the political fence stop making this a political fight?

Sometimes there are things that all sides can find common ground on. The Dowler hacking actually made me feel nauseous, and hacking Brown’s son’s medical records likewise. Like David Wearing, I have little time for Brown the politician, being but he is still a person and deserves respect.

This is not a partisan matter. Both sides did this, and the timidity of both sides in parliament to speak out against Murdoch should be to their shame. To distract from that is to direct the fire away from where it is necessary.

@15

Given the bloody awful treatment any progressive person or policy has had in the hands of Murdoch’s newshounds can’t you just let us have some fun?

As you are obviously a bit of a nerd (from your website) you may not get out enough to understand just how pernicious the effect Murdoch has had on this country has been, and for decades.

This is worth a repeat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1aZcsY-O8Q

The allegations against The Sun and Sunday Times may have serious operational implications for the newspapers. They mean that the IT teams who manage their email backups won’t be doing their day jobs, with trickle down damage in other IT sections. They mean that admin staff will be recovering paper records from archives. And company lawyers will be very busy. There won’t be any hot news stories, but there rarely are at this time of year. Apart from this one.

Re: Belle de Jour and trojans. Any investigator who had followed the BdJ story and interviews, without knowing the identity of BdJ, should have known that she was a Mac user. In a Guardian interview conducted over the web, BdJ stridently ticks off the interviewer for using the “wrong” browser. Skipping the tech detail, you couldn’t buy an off the shelf Mac OS vulnerability in 2006, so what they attempted was probably quite crude. A web bug in an email to the BdJ HushMail account? Or send a Microsoft Office doc or PDF that depended on a Windows vulnerability.

@ 16:

“Given the bloody awful treatment any progressive person or policy has had in the hands of Murdoch’s newshounds can’t you just let us have some fun?”

Well, if you want to actually reform the press so that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again, it’s probably best to get as broad a spectrum of opinions behind you as possible. If, on the other hand, you just want to “have some fun” and make yourself feel better, then by all means turn this into a left-right thing.

Concerned troll at 15

“Can’t we all just get along”…… does not wash bucko.

18

The tories still want to give Murdoch Bsky B. Because they are a vicious tribal bunch who want every advantage they can get.

They are attempting to kick this down the road, when things have cooled down. Typical sleazy tories. This deal should already be dead in the water. But call me Dave is going to still try to push this through.

@15. Tim Almond: “This is not a partisan matter.”

It is a partisan matter, because politicians have attempted to use association with the News Corp clan for political advantage.

I would be happy for partisanship to be put aside if it was to be done honestly. If all politicians who had sought News Corp backing were honest about their mistakes. A few notable individuals feel unable to achieve this and their reputations will go in the same direction as NI newspapers.

I’ll stick with partisanship until we have heard a lot more apologies from politicians and their advisors. And police investigation can continue in the background. Then we have to investigate the police.

@19: Wounded anmimals, cornered, looking for a way out. When the head down, “get outta the way” method no longer works, the, “let’s talk, let’s be civilised” tactic comes into play. The tory tossers in the commons are doing it now, trying to play the good guys, berating those horrible Labour types for being mean about the PM. You know, the arrogant dick with the integrity of a crack dealer.

Makes you wonder how the Times’ Patrick Foster outed police blogger Nightjack.

Rebekah Brooks could be she has to much information, if you got rid of her of course then she do a deal to get her self off the hook, sending the whole lot into hell.

I suspect while she is being paid a nice earner she going to say nothing, after all her chances of getting a job in the news paper word in the UK is now impossible.

I suspect money is keeping her silent

I’ve seen it suggested that Rebekah Brooks is being retained now so that she can be sacrificed later, when something even worse emerges…