Revealed: press buying and selling private information on a grand scale.
From Iain Dale comes news of the newspapers caught out using the services of just one private detective, who, unfortunately for them, had been keeping meticulous records of who was paying him for his work, all seized when his house was raided:
This information is from a report that the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, is to submit to parliament tomorrow. The leaked contents Iain Dale has published don't match the more vague details obtained by Lord Ashcroft via the Freedom of Information Act (PDF), which remember, Blair and Lord Falconer want to drastically curtail, so hopefully Thomas's report will provide the full details of all the newspapers involved tomorrow. Whether Thomas's report will also actually name the journalists who made use of the services provided by the private dick is unclear.
As Dale also points out, this is the information from only one private detective agency, which looks to be the one which was a favourite of the Rothermere press. One can only surmise that most of the business for News International was done elsewhere.
Unless this exposure and the hoo-hah over Clive Goodman brings about a step-change in journalistic conduct (snigger) then it's additionally worth recalling that our blessed government is creating the biggest database in the Western world for the ID card scheme, and another huge one, the NHS "Spine", both of which are likely to become a goldmine for tabloid hacks looking to perform hatchet jobs on celebs and those accused of crime. When it seems apparent that information is already being bought and sold from the Police National Computer, one can only imagine how the hacks are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of getting medical and personal information even easier than ever before.
1. Daily Mail - 952 incidents by 58 different journalists
2. Sunday People - 802 incidents by 50 different journalists
3. Daily Mirror - 681 incidents by 45 different journalists
4. Mail on Sunday - 266 incidents by 33 different journalists
5. News of the World - 182 different incidents by 19 different journalists
This information is from a report that the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, is to submit to parliament tomorrow. The leaked contents Iain Dale has published don't match the more vague details obtained by Lord Ashcroft via the Freedom of Information Act (PDF), which remember, Blair and Lord Falconer want to drastically curtail, so hopefully Thomas's report will provide the full details of all the newspapers involved tomorrow. Whether Thomas's report will also actually name the journalists who made use of the services provided by the private dick is unclear.
As Dale also points out, this is the information from only one private detective agency, which looks to be the one which was a favourite of the Rothermere press. One can only surmise that most of the business for News International was done elsewhere.
Unless this exposure and the hoo-hah over Clive Goodman brings about a step-change in journalistic conduct (snigger) then it's additionally worth recalling that our blessed government is creating the biggest database in the Western world for the ID card scheme, and another huge one, the NHS "Spine", both of which are likely to become a goldmine for tabloid hacks looking to perform hatchet jobs on celebs and those accused of crime. When it seems apparent that information is already being bought and sold from the Police National Computer, one can only imagine how the hacks are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of getting medical and personal information even easier than ever before.
Labels: Clive Goodman, Iain Dale, Lord Ashcroft, MSM buying information, Richard Thomas
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