I have been a bit bemused by all the outrage on this side of the pond in regards to the News Corp hacking scandal taking place in the UK. People have expressed their anger at the fact that a news gathering organization paid off some government officials to hack the voice mails of leaders, celebrities and victims of violent crime.
I'm certainly not defending Rupert Murdoch and his minions. Their behavior certainly is outrageous, but at least they can fall back on the rationale that they were pursuing news stories. It might be a rather flimsy explanation, but it is a vague pretext.
In this country, the federal government in the form of a variety of police-state agencies could do the same damn thing as News Corp with next to no pretext at all! All a federal agent needs these days is a hunch or a wild guess and your privacy doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
We already know that our dear government seems overly preoccupied with peace and human rights organizations and their individual members. Several have had their homes ransacked for no apparent reason other than the individuals involved support policies the Obama administration doesn't like. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we learn (several years from now) that these people's phones were hacked and voice mail compromised.
So, why is it that the public is in an uproar with Murdoch and company, yet the vast majority of them are not as upset with the FBI and who knows else? At this juncture, there is no evidence that News Corp hacked anyone in the US and, even if it later comes out that they are guilty of this, the numbers will pale in comparison to the thousands (maybe millions) of citizens that are being spied on by our own government.
I'm certainly not defending Rupert Murdoch and his minions. Their behavior certainly is outrageous, but at least they can fall back on the rationale that they were pursuing news stories. It might be a rather flimsy explanation, but it is a vague pretext.
In this country, the federal government in the form of a variety of police-state agencies could do the same damn thing as News Corp with next to no pretext at all! All a federal agent needs these days is a hunch or a wild guess and your privacy doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
We already know that our dear government seems overly preoccupied with peace and human rights organizations and their individual members. Several have had their homes ransacked for no apparent reason other than the individuals involved support policies the Obama administration doesn't like. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we learn (several years from now) that these people's phones were hacked and voice mail compromised.
So, why is it that the public is in an uproar with Murdoch and company, yet the vast majority of them are not as upset with the FBI and who knows else? At this juncture, there is no evidence that News Corp hacked anyone in the US and, even if it later comes out that they are guilty of this, the numbers will pale in comparison to the thousands (maybe millions) of citizens that are being spied on by our own government.
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