Australian minister demands police investigate News Corp ‘sabotage unit’

“News Limited and Foxtel [a pay-television company part-owned by News Corp] have spent considerable resources fighting piracy in Australia. It is ironic and deeply frustrating that we should be drawn into a story concerning the facilitation of piracy.” But several ministers in the Gillard Government, which believes it has been unfairly targeted by the Murdoch stable in Australia, expressed concerns about the allegations.

“These are serious allegations, and any allegations of criminal activity should be referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation,” said a spokesperson for Stephen Conroy, the minister.

Wayne Swan, the treasurer, said: “I’ve seen the story, I’m not sure how accurate it is. Obviously it’s concerning. we’ll see how it plays out.”

IThe report said Operational Security was headed by Reuven Hasak, a former deputy director of the Israeli domestic secret service, Shin Bet, and was closely supervised by Mr Murdoch.

Initially the unit aimed to hunt the pirates targeting News Corp’s operations but it later began encouraging piracy and the publication of hacked software on the internet.

In one email exchange, Andy Coulthurst, a British hacker working for Operational Security, emailed an NDS official: “The hack on Irdeto is SO EASY! All you need is . . .” before rattling off the details.

“Andy this is great stuff,” replied Avigail Gutman, who headed Operational Security for Asia Pacific from Taiwan, where her husband was the Israeli consul.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes