Rupert Murdoch Firm Hired Hackers To Sabotage Rival, Lawsuit Alleges

ABC reports that one of Rupert Murdoch's companies is going on trial for charges that it hired hackers to sabotage a rival company:

Did a Rupert Murdoch company go too far and hire hackers to sabotage rivals and gain the top spot in the global pay-TV war?

This is the question a jury will be facing in a spectacular five-year-old civil lawsuit that is finally being tried this month in California but which has, oddly, received little notice from U.S. media...

...On the hot spot is NDS Group, a UK-Israeli firm that makes smartcards for pay-TV systems like DirecTV. The company is a majority-owned subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation. The charges stem from 1997 when NDS is accused of cracking the encryption of rival NagraStar, which makes access cards and systems for EchoStar's Dish Network and other pay-TV services. Further, it's alleged NDS then hired hackers to manufacture and distribute counterfeit NagraStar cards to pirates to steal Dish Network's programming for free.

Keep reading here.

Murdoch has a reputation for ruthlessness, which Newsweek has shown in their report on Murdoch launching an old-fashioned newspaper war against the New York Times.

Comments

[kae]

What a mogul! So savvy! Does he own everything yet?

[BPCentrisAmerican]

I would like to kick his old ass right back to Australia, wait a minute, China since he loves the communist so much, than I would like to kick the grand pupa of all religion, arms dealer and owner of the money losing rag Washington Times ass back to South Korea. The trolls call us hufftards and moon-bats, yet Republicans love the support of a that Communist loving Murdock and secretly worship Moon or at least his money, one of the dirty little secrets of the "gutless old party". Moon was one of the original cult leaders to slither out of 70"s when he convinced suburban kids to wear silly orange robes and peddle roses in airports, while he was buying mansions and collected Rolls Royce"s. Moon defined the word scam artist.

Talking about scam artist, Rupert turns every newspaper he buys into a tabloid rag. He has a son, who is more cut throat than he is and I"m afraid the US media market is going to suffer for it, when Rupert kicks, which can"t happen fast enough for me. You see for me it"s personal since he acquired a publishing company my wife worked for and it turned into a snake pit.

Clearance Thomas"s liberal hate book was published by a Murdock company, which would be problem if NewsCorp, has a case in front of the Supreme Court. Thomas will sit there like the mediocre justice that he is and not ask any questions as usual.

[rbspickles]

MSM.....morons since Murdoch

[wsblake]

Dante himself couldn't have imagined what awaits this SOB for the devastation he has wrought.

[GabrielXL]

This is what we get when we pimp ourselves out.

[DoninJoisey]

Has Murdoch endorsed Hillary yet?

[LORISNJ]

Murdoch supported Hillary in her Senate campaign but because his media empire exposed her Bosnia lie, I don't think the 2 are still in bed together.

[rikkirighteous]

Anyone can file a lawsuit against anyone for any reason at any time.

[ramal]

Evil personified.

[ROBOT8]

ten steps that "fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders [employ to] seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies." The ten steps are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
naomi wolfe

[watererbob]

Why is not a criminal trial?

[marthlois]

MURDOCK - LAWSUITS????
In the meantime, the Clintons are due in court THREE days after the PA primary
to answer to campaign fraud charges to the tune of 17 million dollars! And the
media allows THAT to sleep. Just pump it into google: Clinton lawsuit los angeles
and you'll find it all or check out utube.

This woman has gotten a pass beyond belief. And I've decided that it is because
the reporters who were there defending them in the 90's are still there today. They
KNOW FULL WELL not to mess with the machine - their hands will be slapped just
as the others who have been thrown under the bus like Richardson and Moveon.org.
WAKE up everyone!

[comingawakening]

Come again? I am not doing any searches this late...I have to sleep and drive to Pittsburg tomorrow to cover the race. I will be doing youtube postings throughout the day at perezpolitics.com.

But is this true?

[PaceSetter]

From WIkipedia:

Paul's claims have not found traction. An audit by the Federal Elections Commission found that neither Senator Clinton nor her Senate campaign had accepted any illegal funds in connection with the Hollywood fundraiser.

Finding no luck in the courts, in 2007 Paul sponsored and promoted a thirteen and a half minute video titled "Hillary Exposed: The Case of Paul v. Clinton," attacking Senator Clinton. Her office responded "Peter Paul is a professional liar who has four separate criminal convictions, two for fraud. His video repackages a series of seven-year-old false claims about Senator Clinton that have already been rejected by the California state courts, the Justice Department, the Federal Election Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee." In January 2008, he also re-filed his complaint with the FEC.

Sounds pretty iffy to me

[whiteboyblues]

He's like the Lex Luther of media

[Indedave]

Eliot Carver.

[jubo]

I suspect his reach is longer than media. Look at what Fox did to the elections in 2000.

[BethStuart]

Another good reason to reinstate laws that restrict the number of media outlets under the control of one person.

[mediamarv]

Better yet, tighten the citizenship requirements for foreigners who become citizens just so they can create media empires with the stated goal of destroying Democracy as practiced in this country, not australia, where he is hated intensely, btw.

[HermioneGranger]

That is a wonderful idea.

Then again, if you tighten the citizenship requirements for foreigners to rule out rich white Christian business guys with an Anglo background that sounds a little odd, doesn't it?

Do you want to limit citizenship to black and brown women with Muslim background and no money?

[robbor]

murdoch has built his empire in the image of himself

[jmb11077]

That sure is an ugly image!!

[fn0rd]

This story has, quite truly, everything. A Boris, a Norris, a corrupt media titan, ties to political murder-for-hire, and pirates galore.

Only thing it doesn't have, is ninjas.

/or that's what we want you to think.

[jubo]

Interesting, Ninjas are assassins... and I was just thinking that wiping the slate clean is the only solution. Tabula Rasa.