News Corp Unit to Pay Damages to Ex-Spy Whose Computer Was Hacked
October 06 2017 - 3:17PM
Dow Jones News
By Stu Woo
LONDON -- A U.K. subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp
apologized in court here and agreed to pay damages to a former
British intelligence officer whose computer was hacked by a private
investigator working for the now-defunct News of the World.
A spokeswoman for News UK, a News Corp subsidiary, said its News
Group Newspapers business apologized in court Friday to Ian Hurst
and accepted "vicarious liability," after a private investigator
for the News of the World got access to his emails in 2006. The
company agreed to pay Mr. Hurst's legal fees and to pay
"substantial" damages, the spokeswoman said.
Mr. Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011, amid
revelations that its journalists hacked into the phones and
computers of politicians, celebrities and other prominent people.
The resulting national scandal forced the company to abandon a bid
to buy the 61% of British pay-TV giant Sky PLC that News Corp
didn't already own.
Mr. Murdoch since split the company into two: 21st Century Fox
Inc., which comprises his TV and movie businesses, and News Corp,
which primarily comprises newspapers. Fox is now attempting again
to acquire the 61% of Sky it doesn't own. News Corp publishes
several newspapers in the U.S. and U.K., including The Wall Street
Journal.
Mr. Murdoch and his family are major stakeholders in both Fox
and News Corp.
Mr. Hurst, who had said News of the World was looking for
information related to his work in Northern Ireland and with the
Irish Republican Army, sued News Group Newspapers in August
2011.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 06, 2017 16:02 ET (20:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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