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UK Phone Hacking Whistleblower Found Dead

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:08:04 PM EST
Tags: phone hacking (all tags)
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Sean Hoare, the first journalist to expose the phone hacking scandal and Andy Coulson, has been found dead at his home. Hoare originally went to the New York Times with the story. He recently disclosed that reporters paid police to be able to "ping" the phones of celebrities.

He said journalists were able to use a technique called "pinging" which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location.

Hoare gave further details about the use of "pinging" to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: "Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say 'right that's where they are.'"

More on the pinging here. [More...]

Police in this country routinely use pinging when they get court orders for cell-site locator information. They call the phone and "ping it" to see what cell tower it's near. That lets them know where to send physical surveillance officers. If the suspect is at home, there's a big Fourth Amendment issue and many magistrate judges around the country have denied pen register requests that include cell site locator information for that reason: a pen register can be gotten with a court order that the information sought is relevant to an ongoing investigation, while a search warrant establishing probable cause should be required to "ping" someone in their own home.

The Third Circuit, the first appeals court to consider whether a search warrant is necessary for cell site locator information ruled the warrant is optional. More here.

Disclosure of cell site information turns a mobile telephone into a "tracking device" and disclosure should not be authorized without a showing of probable cause.

Cell site data provides the location of the cell phone tower supplying service to a cell phone during a telephone call. It can be obtained from the cell phone service provider within a few seconds of the call.

Geo-location information provides the location of a cell phone within several hundred meters. In providing the information to the Government, cell phone companies are informing it of the specific location of a phone at a particular time.

In some cases, the Government asks for cell site location data not just of the phone it is investigating, but for all numbers dialed to and from the phone. That could be anyone.

Also see, EFF here.

'Pinging' is a big deal, and is used widely by law enforcement here. Congress should make it clear that pinging requires probable cause and a warrant, just like a wiretap order or a search warrant.

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    Not being treated as suspiscious? (5.00 / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:14:54 PM EST
    I doubt that is even rationally possible at this point.

    no doubt (1.00 / 0) (#4)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:25:52 PM EST

    This is VP Cheney's work.

    Parent
    No, Cheney stole your meds. (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by observed on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:47:23 PM EST


    Parent
    How much methanol (none / 0) (#69)
    by scribe on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 08:56:59 AM EST
    do you drink?

    Parent
    For the record (1.00 / 1) (#21)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:53:53 PM EST
    .

    I don't think it acceptable that Cheney had the man killed, if that is in fact what happened.

    .

    Parent

    Ah ha! So you deny it! (none / 0) (#28)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 04:21:14 PM EST
    :-)

    Parent
    Never did "smoke dope" (none / 0) (#70)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 09:18:39 AM EST
    as a bud called it

    But I will take a nice bottle of Cabernet if you happen to have an extra...

    But of course I'm sure you have only the best..

    lol

    Parent

    But is it possible? (none / 0) (#58)
    by hairspray on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 12:01:39 AM EST


    Parent
    I think this is easily the biggest scandal (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by observed on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:47:50 PM EST
    since Watergate.

    Oh no Teapot Dome at least (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:50:10 PM EST


    Parent
    You're probably not serious, but (5.00 / 4) (#10)
    by observed on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:52:52 PM EST
    I can't think of anything which cuts at the public trust in institutions the way this one does.
    Watergate showed how the executive branch could operate lawlessly to subvert the political process---something which was a shock to  many people.
    The Murdoch scandal is really new, IMO, because it shows a kind of press corruption which is as rotten as the Mafia.


    Parent
    and the press-police-politics (5.00 / 2) (#14)
    by ruffian on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:23:41 PM EST
    corruption at that high a level is also a new twist.

    Will be very interesting to see how it plays out here. Perhaps the Fox News ability to strike fear in the hearts of GOP pols is not quite as advanced as it was with News of the World in the UK ...but it sure seems close.

    Parent

    The "Murdock" scandal (none / 0) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:26:23 PM EST
    is in England.

    Now. If you want to start talking about how things happening there move to here I can bring up several things, all off subject, that we wouldn't want here. (Well, most of us wouldn't.)

    Watergate was a demonstration of how a paranoid Prez screwed up by trying to protect people who worked for him by helping cover up crimes he neither ordered or committed.

    Obama Healthcare comes immediately to mind.

    As for the press losing public trust. How can you lose what you didn't have?

    It looks like the press is guilty of getting the police to tell them where a "celebrity" was by "pinging" and maybe some phone tapping.

    Despicable? Yes. A Mafia act? Surely you jest.

    Parent

    Right wing equivalences that make you (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by observed on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:35:03 PM EST
    go "hmmmm".

    Watergate and "Obamacare" (aka Romneycare, aka Dole-Gingrich Care).
    WTF?

    Parent

    Yes, Murdock is only a sleazeball (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by jondee on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:44:55 PM EST
    who'll stoop to any level to get a competitive leg up, (in that respect, very much like Tricky Dick..Rove..the Iran Contra gang..) only when he's in England..

    So in that respect, Murdoch being a festering pustule on the face of journalistic integrity is strictly England's business.

    We shouldn't even be discussing it.

    We should be talking about Obamacare.  

    Parent

    God's trousers! (5.00 / 4) (#23)
    by jondee on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:58:04 PM EST
    if nothing else, give the boy an A for forty years of unquestioning loyalty to the Party..

    Nixon "neither ordered or committed" any of the crimes he attempted to cover up, and thats the end of it.

    I guess you never heard any of those recordings in which Nixon is instructing his underlings to "get", "f*ck" and "screw" any number of people and organizations?    

    Parent

    Those recordings (none / 0) (#26)
    by NYShooter on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 03:30:00 PM EST
    were obviously doctored, as was the evidence that Sadaam really had WMd.

    Boy, you're naive.

    Parent

    It is a big deal (5.00 / 2) (#27)
    by mmc9431 on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 03:54:46 PM EST
    When the media, politicans and police are all in bed together it is a problem for everyone.

    I find it difficult to believe that Murdock confined this type of business practice to the UK. If it worked there, I would expect him to use it across the board.

    I find it amazing how quick the right is to dismiss any scandal that may involve them. Even when there is no defense.

    Why was Vitter's escapades with the hookers more acceptable than Weiner flashing?

    Why was Clemens lying to Congress more criminal than Powell, Rice, Cheney or any of the others that had conclusive evidence that they later recanted? Or the lies on torture or wire tapping?

    If we have any standards left in this country they have to apply to all.

    Parent

    If Murdoch's (5.00 / 7) (#34)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:24:57 PM EST
    right hand man at the WSJ had to step down, it's not just in the UK unless you think the WSJ is in the UK.

    Parent
    If you want to (none / 0) (#36)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:33:45 PM EST
    claim he committed some crime(s) in the US, please do.

    BTW, folks. So far Clemens has not been convicted.

    Innocent until proven guilty, etc., etc.

    Parent

    Not saying (none / 0) (#37)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:40:44 PM EST
    that he personally did anything wrong but who knows what he saw. Maybe he is an ethical person not wanting to be attached to Murdoch's sleaze.

    Parent
    Woulda, coulda and shoulda (none / 0) (#56)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:53:42 PM EST
    Look. I understand that the Left wants FNC taken down and that this, it is thought, could do that, although I can't see how.

    Why people who supposedly are strong believers in free speech would want that I don't know, but it appears to me they do.

    But don't you think implying something when there is no evidence is a bit over the top?

    Parent

    Here's (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 06:52:36 AM EST
    the thing. Murdoch runs a sleaze organization. There's been no doubt about that for quite a while. How are spreading lies and misinformation "freedom of speech"? I know conservatives have a weird belief about freedom.

    Well, there is evidence that Hinton is in on it and he has resigned too. He was in charge of "investigating" these same claims back in 2009 and said there was nothing to them.

    Parent

    You see FNC (none / 0) (#71)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 09:22:37 AM EST
    as bad.

    A large number see it as good.

    Why do you want to limit the discussion by shutting down FNC?

    Aren't your for freedom of speech???

    BTW - Could we see some evidence that there is some evidence?? Say a link to your source?


    Parent

    The right to "Freedom of Speech" (5.00 / 1) (#73)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 10:46:23 AM EST
    ... does not protect a news organization from being criticized or held responsible for their actions.  In fact, that criticism is an example of free speech.

    Has anyone here stated a desire to have the government should "shut down" FNC?

    Parent

    Way to deflect the real issue (5.00 / 1) (#77)
    by sj on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 02:36:28 PM EST
    I expect most of us don't care if Fox "News" exists or not.  We just want to the world to know how sleazy and disreputable its owners and infrastructure are so a little discernment would be applied when assessing their "news".

    They've done some honest reporting on occasion -- stopped watch and all that.  But it's clear to many that it's really the propaganda arm of the Robber Barons.  They've got a huge audience.  Imagine how informed people would be if they got information instead of spin.

    Parent

    Here (none / 0) (#86)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 05:02:01 PM EST
    you go: link

    This guy was here in America.

    Parent

    Les Hinton was (none / 0) (#59)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 12:24:46 AM EST
    head of Dow Jones, parent co. of WSJ and lotsa other stuff.  He stepped down because before he went to Dow Jones, he was chairman of News International, which is the publisher of Murdoch's various papers, before Murdoch acquired the Journal.

    IOW, his resignation had nothing to do with the Journal.


    Parent

    I'm not talking (none / 0) (#65)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 06:59:28 AM EST
    about Hinton in that post. This is the managing editor of the WSJ.

    Parent
    Hello? (none / 0) (#83)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 04:12:43 PM EST
    Who are you talking about?  I don't know of the managing editor of the WSJ stepping down, and can't find any reference to that in Google News.

    The only vaguely WSJ-related character that's had to step down in this is Hinton.

    Parent

    Sorry (none / 0) (#85)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 05:00:00 PM EST
    I got the date wrong. This particular guy resigned WHEN Murdoch took over the WSJ. His name is Marcus Braunchli.

    Parent
    Shirley can't be serious? (1.00 / 0) (#29)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 04:39:06 PM EST
    Well, maybe Peggy can......

    And I thought after the thorough dressing down that Anne laid on you that you might reform..

    Ah, hope springs eternal...

    So, as you so quaintly put it, I'm not going to mince words.

    Donald, in case no one has told you, this is a political blog in which a bit of humor and educational comments seep in from time to time when we are not busy listening to you expound and opine on your assumed resume.

    It becomes tiring to hear that you were a staff person in state politics since that hardly qualifies you for anything in the real world the rest of us live in.

    There is an old saying, "If I could buy you for what you are worth and sell you for what you think you're worth I would be a millionaire."  

    Now. The "Comparison."

    Both Nixon and Obama turned some very important tasks over to their minions. Nixon suffered greatly for it.

    Obama, who could have used his huge political credits to do a Medicare model single payer health care system and actually solve the problem and help America decided to let the insurance companies and the House Demos write what can only be described as an abortion of a bill that will only help the insurance people.

    What ever Nixon and/or Murdoch did doesn't even approach the lost opportunity by Obama.

    Have a nice day.

    Parent

    I'm not sure what relation (5.00 / 3) (#30)
    by jondee on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 04:56:14 PM EST
    a person has to the "real world" when they think Nixon's only crime, after all the decades of revelations and replayings of his semi-psychotic rantings in the oval office, was a misguided sense of loyalty to his underlings (whose activities he knew nothing about beforehand.)

    Someone still clinging desperately to that article of (wingnut) faith, after all the information thats been made available to the public in the last forty years, is an example of someone with a tenuous hold on reality if there ever was one.

    Parent

    whatever Nixon or Murdoch did.. (none / 0) (#32)
    by jondee on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 05:01:44 PM EST
    call us up when Obama secretly dumps a few hundred tons of napalm on a peasant community somewhere on the other side of the planet..(or, as your hero said: "f*ck the civilian casulaties.)

    Parent
    Please do not misquote me (none / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:11:21 PM EST
    I never said "only."

    Watergate was a demonstration of how a paranoid Prez screwed up by trying to protect people who worked for him by helping cover up crimes he neither ordered or committed.


    Parent
    how about he screwed up (none / 0) (#79)
    by jondee on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 02:58:44 PM EST
    by sending Hunt and Liddy out to "f*ck" people?

    Of course, since the ends always justify the means with you guys, that part was o.k.

    Parent

    The comparison is in the (none / 0) (#52)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:43:44 PM EST
    lost opportunity...

    A little bit of pathos.. Thoughts of what could have been.

    You know, life beyond politics. Stretch your mind.... view the world outside.

    Parent

    I love the bit (none / 0) (#78)
    by jondee on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 02:56:06 PM EST
    about Murdoch and Nixon not being accountable for anything their underlings did, whereas the secret Marxist-socialist-jihadist-African devil worshipper should answer for everything..

    Yes, stretch your mind: when Fox takes a station break, turn on The Savage Nation..

    Parent

    btw, Anne gave someone (none / 0) (#81)
    by jondee on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 03:06:51 PM EST
    a dressing down? How'd I miss that? Just answer me this: was it longer or shorter than the unabridged Last of the Mohicans?

    Parent
    We know logic isn't your ... (none / 0) (#38)
    by Yman on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:55:18 PM EST
    ... strong suit, Jim.

    You don't have to keep proving it.

    Parent

    Do you actually have point to make (none / 0) (#44)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:35:49 PM EST
    or do you just show up to drop an insult?

    "Me and my shadow.... walking down the Internet...

    lol

    Have a nice night, Yman.

    Parent

    No, he's being a snit (2.00 / 0) (#53)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:46:03 PM EST
    Thinking of that, why don't you keep out of it unless you just want to pick an argument??

    Parent
    Lets start with (none / 0) (#80)
    by jondee on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 03:03:44 PM EST
    "Fair and Balanced" which isn't speech, but a bald-faced lie and fraudulent to boot (we won't even broach the fact that it's an insult to the intellgence of the average person; table that for another time.)

    Parent
    England must totally root out Murdoch corruption. (5.00 / 4) (#11)
    by Mitch Guthman on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:55:28 PM EST
    This whole affair really has done tremendous damage to Scotland Yard's reputation.  The first thing that came into my mind when I read this story was that even if drugs and alcohol are suspected, a through investigation is obviously necessary.  But then I thought: Why bother?  Even if Murdoch personally beheaded this guy in the middle of Trafalgar Square, who is there to investigate that isn't tainted by this scandal?  Who would trust the Yard or the government now?  I certainly don't.

    This awful man has tarnished so many of England's most important and respected institutions.   I think there is only one way to restore faith in those institutions. Everyone who has been touched by this man's corruption must leave public life forever, his broadcast licenses must all be revoked and decent Englishmen of all political stripes must boycott all his papers until he sells them.

    Awful correction (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:42:29 PM EST
    .

    This awful man has tarnished so many of England's most important and respected institutions.

    The Yard and the police have tarnished themselves.

    .

    Parent

    No doubt (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:39:11 PM EST
    .

    No doubt that the News Of The World folk are covered in a substance other than glory.  Tarnish would be too weak a word.  

    What we don't know yet is how many of the other tabloids were customers for the services the Yard and police were selling.

    .

    Parent

    Why is that even relevant? (5.00 / 1) (#50)
    by Yman on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:12:53 PM EST
    Unless someone's trying to deflect culpability from NewsCorp to the police agencies or other news organizations.

    Ooooohhhhhhh ....

    Parent

    Hate to say it, guys, but (5.00 / 1) (#60)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 12:26:37 AM EST
    Abdul whatsis is entirely right on this one.

    Parent
    Well, (none / 0) (#54)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:46:31 PM EST

    We do know who was selling information.  We just don't know who all the customers are yet.

    There is no deflection.  

    The News Of The World is cuplable for the purchases.  The Yard and police are culpable for the sales.

    Parent

    That presumes ... (none / 0) (#67)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 07:12:43 AM EST
    We do know who was selling information.  We just don't know who all the customers are yet.

    ... there are other "customers".  Do you have some evidence that other news organizations were engaged in this?

    Parent

    We don't know yet (none / 0) (#68)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 07:50:34 AM EST
    .

    So far we seem to know that the Yard and police were selling information to the News Of The World.  We don't know if there were other customers.  

    However, it appears likely to the point of near certainty that other tabloids (given their reputation) would be interested in that information as well.  We know for absolute certainty that some in the Yard and police were interested in making money on that information.

    If Inspector Smith was making some extra cash on the side from selling the location of some celebrity to the NOTW, it would be a small step to ring up the gossip reporter at say, the Mirror or the Mail to see if the checkbook was open.

    There is no apparent reason to believe that corrupt cops were monogamous in their corruption.  One purpose of any investigation should be to determine the extent of police corruption.

    .

    Parent

    No kidding (none / 0) (#72)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 10:38:52 AM EST
    So far we seem to know that the Yard and police were selling information to the News Of The World.  We don't know if there were other customers.

    Precisely.  Yet your OP suggests there were "other customers" ("We just don't know who all the customers are yet".)

    However, it appears likely to the point of near certainty that other tabloids (given their reputation) would be interested in that information as well.

    Uhhhhm, yeah ... no kidding.  This is not the same thing as establishing they were willing to do what NOTW did to get it, or, more importantly, that they actually did what NOTW did.

    There is no apparent reason to believe that corrupt cops were monogamous in their corruption.  One purpose of any investigation should be to determine the extent of police corruption.

    Of course the investigation should determine if any other tabloids were involved.  That being said, suggesting that others were involved without even the slightest of evidence is shear speculation, and a lame attempt at deflecting blame from NOTW.

    Parent

    There is evidence (none / 0) (#76)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 01:25:24 PM EST
    .

    The cops showed the willingness to sell information for money.  We have enough experience with human greed to understand that for those cops making more money was more important that their oath of office.  Frankly if they were not performing similar services for other buyers it would be quite the surprise.  

    .

    Parent

    That's not evidence (none / 0) (#82)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 03:45:41 PM EST
    We have evidence of some in SY being willing to sell the information.  There is zero evidence that other news organizations were buying it.  Just because a drug dealer is willing to sell drugs and person A buys them, does not (even by inference) mean that person B or C were also buying them.

    Parent
    So (none / 0) (#84)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 04:59:57 PM EST
    When they catch a dope dealer it is safe to assume no other customers. Right.

    Parent
    Assuming other news organizations ... (none / 0) (#87)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 05:23:07 PM EST
    ... engaged in the illegal behavior that NewsCorp (allegedly) did with zero evidence is mere speculation.  Drug dealers, by definition, have more than one customer.  You have no idea how many "customers" SY had re: this information.  

    The reason you choose to try to smear other news organizations is obvious.

    Parent

    Deflect culpability?? (none / 0) (#55)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:47:56 PM EST
    Are you claiming that NewsCorp held a gun and made the police do the evil deeds?

    Please....

    Parent

    Once again .... sloooooowly, Jim (none / 0) (#66)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 07:09:28 AM EST
    No - what I'm saying is that wingers are trying to focus on the police and even other imagined journalists rather than focusing on NewsCorp.  Of course any police involvement should be fully investigated (preferably by an independent agency), but when wingers start talking about imagined sales to other journalists without the slightest bit of evidence, they reveal their true agenda.

    Parent
    Oh dear (none / 0) (#63)
    by sj on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 01:29:52 AM EST
    I agree with you. :)

    Parent
    This all looks very suspicious (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by brodie on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:03:05 PM EST
    to me.  As are the curious injuries Hoare received just prior to his death.

    Perhaps an honest and thorough investigation will determine it was a suicide.  But from the looks of it in this one report, this sounds like a man who was an active whistleblower participant and who would have wanted to be around on the other side of this story, as it ultimately played out, to see justice done and journalism reformed.  At least that's my read of him from this one story.

    Shades a bit here of journalist/whistleblower-of-sorts Dorothy Kilgallen from the mid-1960s and another famous case, also an official suicide but whose death, when one looks at the evidence even half-awake, clearly points to what is usually termed "foul play".

    Honest investigation is good. But who's to do it? (none / 0) (#35)
    by Mitch Guthman on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 06:28:59 PM EST
    Yes, there needs to be an honest and thorough  investigation of this death.  But by whom? Murdoch's employees at Scotland Yard?  Perhaps someone appointed by Murdoch's stooge Cameron? Who in England is both independent of politics and Murdoch yet capable of running a murder investigation?

    That's always been the problem in cleaning things up.  You can't even make a start if the police are corrupt.  

    Parent

    Good questions. (none / 0) (#41)
    by brodie on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:09:35 PM EST
    In the case from the 60s I referenced above as similar in some ways, assuming that was foul play, it would appear the perpetrators knew they had at least the coroner in the bag, and I don't think he would have ruled as he did if he wasn't sure the police authorities would back him up.  Also, given the nature of what she said she was uncovering, they also would have been confident of having the MSM cooperatively report only the official line and no more.  

    And that's about all they needed -- a very few key people in the initial stages either bought off, already part of the "team" or threatened to go along as ordered, and the rest sort of takes care of itself as the institutional processes play out.

    Parent

    As to the "curious injuries" received (none / 0) (#40)
    by Peter G on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:00:33 PM EST
    "just prior" to Hoare's being found dead at home, what the linked story actually says is: "He also said he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children's party. He said he broke his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a pole from the marquee."  Perhaps he suffered a more serious head injury in that accident than he had realized. I'm willing to wait for the medical examiner's report.

    Parent
    Yep, I saw those details, too, (none / 0) (#42)
    by brodie on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:12:27 PM EST
    but was following a track of very skeptical thinking assuming he'd been warned earlier not to talk, and of course not to talk about being told not to talk.

    Obviously we'd want further details before getting too far afield here, but early speculation on this one is a given under the circumstances.

    Parent

    Just one of those things... (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by lentinel on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 08:22:50 PM EST
    Hertfordshire police said in a statement:

    "The death is currently being treated as unexplained but not thought to be suspicious."

    Of course it's not suspicious.
    I'm not suspicious.
    Are you suspicious?

    You wrote (none / 0) (#2)
    by NYShooter on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:15:38 PM EST
    "Sean Hoare, the first journalist to expose the phone hacking scandal and Andy Coulson, has been found dead at his home."

    was it one, or two, that were found dead?

    Only Mr. Hoare is deceased, per link. (none / 0) (#3)
    by oculus on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:24:03 PM EST
    Sounds like he had his share of problems, but this is sad.  

    Parent
    O.K. (none / 0) (#5)
    by NYShooter on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 01:26:10 PM EST
    thanks

    Parent
    Praying hard for a Faux News implosion. (none / 0) (#12)
    by Angel on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:02:39 PM EST


    Regardless of established cause of death (none / 0) (#17)
    by denise k on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 02:38:08 PM EST
    The message has been sent.  Murdoch plays hardball and you may just end up dead if you turn whistleblower on them.  This is not hard to understand given the money, power, influence and police corruption involved.  There are some really nasty people out there willing to do whatever it takes to protect themselves and their power.

    Lots of jumping to conclusions here as w (none / 0) (#31)
    by oculus on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 04:57:09 PM EST
    why and how this person died.

    Better turn attention to two people who just died who lived in Spreckels mansion in Coronado.  One, an adult was found hanged inside the house, feet and hands bound.  So far this death has been deemed a suicide.  

    Wha?? (5.00 / 2) (#39)
    by sj on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 07:14:55 PM EST
    There are no suspects or persons of interest in the case that has yet to be classified as a suicide or homicide.

    [snip]

    She was hanging from a rope on a second-floor balcony with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound deputies said

    That's a very creative suicide, isn't it.  I have never heard of these people before, but that's an insane little set of statements.

    Parent

    Weird yes, but (none / 0) (#61)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 12:29:12 AM EST
    not entirely unheard of.  Remember David Carradine?

    THe ME will be able to figure out whether this was homicide or suicide.  But it does seem to me if you're going to murder your girlfriend and hope to get away with it, this is a pretty strange way to go about it.


    Parent

    That's really stretching it (5.00 / 1) (#62)
    by sj on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 01:24:10 AM EST
    Autoerotic asphyxiation, David Carridine's presumed cause of death, doesn't generally including binding one's own feet and tying one's hands behind one's back and then leaping from a balcony.

    And my thoughts went to it being a message to him, not an action by him.  And that is way more words than I intended to spend on this :(

    Parent

    all mafia families in US bribed cops.. (none / 0) (#46)
    by diogenes on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 09:27:54 PM EST
    Does anyone here really think that the British left wing popular papers wouldn't or didn't bribe cops to ping various celebrities, politicians, or anyone else of interest to them?  That they would refuse the opportunity to accept pinged information if offered to them based on principle?

    Does anyone here ... (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by Yman on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 10:16:27 PM EST
    ... have a single, bit of evidence that "British left wing popular papers" actually did such a thing, as opposed to fantasizing what they would do?

    Didn't think so.

    Parent

    if you don't take a temperature... (none / 0) (#74)
    by diogenes on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 12:56:31 PM EST
    If you don't take a temperature, you can't find a fever.  If you think that something could happen, then you look.  
    Everyone on this thread keeps talking about Nixon but no one thinks to consider the following from Wikipedia about LBJ
    "Johnson continued the FBI's wiretapping of Martin Luther King, Jr. that had been previously authorized by the Kennedy administration under Attorney General Robert Kennedy.[89] As a result of listening to the FBI's tapes, remarks on King's personal lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, including Johnson, who once said that King was a "hypocritical preacher."[90] Johnson also authorized the tapping of phone conversations of others, including the Vietnamese friends of a Nixon associate.[91]"

    Is this worse than pinging?  You decide.  I'd take pinging any day.

    Parent

    Of COURSE you take the temperature (5.00 / 1) (#75)
    by Yman on Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 01:09:08 PM EST
    But a doctor who assumes a fever without the slightest bit of evidence is a quack.

    Parent
    British left-wing popular papers? (none / 0) (#57)
    by cymro on Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 11:53:48 PM EST
    Can you name any? The Daily Mirror (a left-wing tabloid; popular?) and The Guardian (a serious liberal -- but not really left wing -- newspaper; popular??) and ...?

    Parent
    NY Times today (none / 0) (#88)
    by diogenes on Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 11:01:09 PM EST
    "At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, lawyers for the actor Hugh Grant and his former girlfriend, the socialite Jemima Khan -- once the subject of relentless tabloid attention -- mentioned The News of the World and unspecified "other newspapers" while demanding police information on Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal staff members. It was the first suggestion that Mr. Mulcaire, who had an exclusive contract with The News of the World, might have sold his information to other publications. Those publications were not named in the court proceedings, but the judge referred to "one or more newspaper proprietors."

    UK Phone Hacking Whistleblower Found Dead | 80 comments (80 topical)

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