FBI to Investigate News Corporation Over 9/11 Hacking
Allegations

     Bureau to investigate claims News of the World
     journalists sought to hack into phone of victims of
     9/11, reports say

Ed Pilkington in New York, Andrew Gumbel and agencies

Guardian (UK) 
Thursday 14 July 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/14/fbi-news-corp-hacking-claims

The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that
News of the World journalists tried to hack into the phones
of victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

The launch of the FBI inquiry amounts to the first official
inquiry within the US into News Corporation activities. The
move brings the scandal within Rupert Murdoch's British
newspaper division closer to his American home and to News
Corporation's headquarters in Manhattan.

The announcement of an FBI inquiry followed a mounting
chorus from politicians and relatives of 9/11 victims
calling for a review of the allegations. Peter King, the
Republican chairman of the homeland security committee in
the House of Representatives, on Wednesday wrote to the
director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, and asked him to open
an investigation into the 9/11 allegations.

In his letter, King said he represented a district of New
York that lost more than 150 constituents in the terror
attacks. "If these allegations are proven true, the conduct
would merit felony charges, and any person found guilty
should receive the harshest sanctions available under law."

The claim that Murdoch journalists attempted to get hold of
victims' phone details was made by the Mirror newspaper,
which based the story on an unnamed former New York police
officer working as a private detective, who was said to have
been approached by News of the World reporters asking him to
retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

The detective was reported to have declined to take up the
commission.

It is unclear at this early stage in the investigation
whether there is any substance to the Mirror's allegations.
But relatives of 9/11 victims expressed delight and relief
that the FBI had stepped in to clear up the issue.

Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son Christian died in the
World Trade Centre, said: "I'm very happy. The FBI is being
very responsive in acting on our call for a full
investigation."

Jim McCaffrey, a New York firefighter who lost his brother-
in-law Orio Palmer, also a firefighter, on 9/11, also
welcomed the FBI inquiry. "If these claims are found to be
true, I think it's a terrible revelation and very, very
upsetting to 9/11 family members," he said.

Even if the information contained in the Mirror article
could be verified, there might be a problem with moving
forward with an investigation because the events were so
long ago. Several legal experts, including a former top
lawyer for the FBI, said that prosecution under federal
wiretapping laws is subject to a five-year statute of
limitations.

While the FBI inquiry gets under way, News Corporation also
faces the prospect of possible prosecution under other US
laws. Several Congress members have called for the company
to be held accountable under the Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act, a federal law that punishes firms based in the US that
engage in bribery abroad.

It has emerged that News of the World staff paid police
officers in the UK in the course of their phone-hacking
activities.

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