Breaking: Murdoch's UK Sun Newspaper Site Hacked

LulzSec has taken over The Sun's online site.  All hits to the site go directly to LulzSec's Twitter feed.  It is, effectively, being held hostage by hackers.

LulzSec is also claiming that they are redirecting all viewers going to Murdoch's News International site, as well.

These hacks are redirects only.  By clicking onto these links, it will take you to a Twitter page, which is safe and will not damage your computer.  I would be willing to say that LulzSec is planning on releasing a statement via their Twitter feed soon, and is using this to get attention.

It's definitely worth a peek.

Update:  Apparently, LulzSec had originally placed a story on The Sun's website claiming that News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch was dead.  It was as a result of a suicide from a palladium overdose.  When the IT department at The Sun kept removing the story, LulzSec had no other choice but to take the site offline altogether.

Breaking News: News Corp Whistle-Blower Found Dead

Sean Hoare, former News of the World entertainment reporter, who was the first employee to personally implicate former editor Andy Coulson in the scandal, has been found dead in his home.

Hoare was found dead moments ago in his home in Watford, Hertfordshire, after concerns were raised about his whereabouts.  He was the first News of the World employee to accuse Coulson of "actively encouraging" the "pinging" of subjects for the tabloid.  "Pinging" is a method of locating a person using his or her cell phone number -- something that only law enforcement and security officials are allowed to do.  Each instance of "pinging" cost the paper approximately $500.

According to Hertfordshire police, the death is being treated as "unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious".  

Suicide?

Fox News Focuses On Real Victim Of News Corp. Scandal: News Corp.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock with you fingers in your ears, you have heard something in regards to the News of the World phone hacking scandal.  That is, unless you've been watching Fox News.  Even though the UK tabloid closed it's doors on July 10th, after 168 years in business, Fox didn't air their first story on the scandal until July 13th.  The nature of that story, by Gretta Van Susteren, was more along the lines of, "The British government is forcing News Corp to give up on it's purchase of BSkyB."  All of the other details regarding the illegal and unethical practices News Corp has been involved in was secondary.

Fast forward to Friday morning, July 15th.  Fox and Friends airs a segment with a "PR expert", saying that "the problem isn't with News Corp, but with hacking itself".  The story takes a decidedly "stop picking on us" turn when they talk about how this was something that happened "over a decade ago", and that hundreds of people are now unemployed because of the actions of "1% of their workforce".  Just watch:



This is not opinion.  This is not editorial commentary.  This is the blatant, intentional misleading of the American public.  I guarantee, GUARANTEE, that if MSNBC were accused of hacking the email and personal phone accounts of 9/11 victims in order to get leads, Fox would have a fucking field day.  It would be the only thing they would talk about, 24 hours a day, for weeks on end.  They would be calling for the FCC to shut them down and their Democratic supporters in Washington to be arrested on accessory charges.

Oh, speaking of arrests, Rebekah Brooks, one of Rupert Murdoch's top lieutenants at News of the World, was arrested this morning on multiple corruption charges.  London's Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, resigned this morning in the wake of the growing scandal.  But, I guess they're both victims of this whole thing, too.

Unbelievable.

OK, I'll Go There

Since no one else has.....and you know we're all thinking it.

News of the World printed it's last issue Sunday and closed it's doors after 168 years and 8,674 editions, amid widespread reports of illegal and immoral journalistic practices.  Reporters and senior management alike have been implicated in hacking the personal emails and phone lines of celebrities, politicians, and even a missing 13 year old girl, just to get a story.

Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the paper, has kept quiet over the last week, as he is currently in London picking up the pieces of one of his four UK newspapers.  With each day that passes, more and more information is coming to light showing just how heinous and morally bankrupt the institution was.  People were threatened.  Policemen were bribed.  Even the Prime Minister's personal information was hacked, simply to get a lead and sell a few extra newspapers.

So, people are wondering:  How much did Murdoch know?  He hand-picked many of the higher ups that were personally involved in the illegal activity.  This has been going on for a decade.  He had to know.  He HAD to.

What I'm asking is this:  Murdoch owned News of the World.  He also owns Fox Broadcasting and Fox News.  You can't tell me that the UK half of his media empire is corrupt, yet the U.S. half is squeaky clean.  If Murdoch was in on it, what's not to say that he had a "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" attitude toward his other outlets.

News of the World went to these horrific extremes to simply sell newspapers.  Fox News is the voice of the Republican party in the United States.  It's viewers are told what issues are important to them, how to think, and who to vote for.  Fox has former White House press secretaries, campaign managers, and party strategists on their payroll.  They also have had a half dozen Republican Presidential candidates as commentators. 

Wouldn't Rupert Murdoch have more of an interest in changing minds and public policy in the United States than selling tabloids in the UK?  He has a $6+ billion personal fortune to protect, after all. 


It's common knowledge that Fox News lies to their viewers.  It's also common knowledge that their viewers are the least knowledgeable when compared to those of other programs.  It's not a coincidence.  Many of Fox's drones still believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim or that he wasn't born in the United States.  More than 60% don't believe in global warming.  What is Fox News up to?

When the payoff becomes the White House, along with the possibility of decades of corporate and personal tax legislation in your favor, wouldn't you want to protect your investment?

Sony: 'PS3 User Info Has Been Compromised'

The news for Sony, and for 70 million of their Playstation Network users, continues to get worse as days go by. On April 20th, the Playstation Network, which is the hub of the PS3 experience, suffered an "illegal intrusion".  The network was, essentially, hacked into by an unknown individual.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with a PS3, the network (or PSN) is about 80% of what makes a PS3 a PS3.  The PSN is the only way to play a game online versus another user.  It is also the only way to download updates or additional content for a game that you own.  The PSN is also the system that allows you to purchase new games and movies that are downloaded directly onto the hard drive of your PS3.

There are a number of applications that are unable to work if the PSN is offline, such as Hulu, Netflix, and Sony's new music subscription service Qriocity.  I have read, however, that some people have had relative success getting Netflix to work, even with the PSN offline.  My Netflix account is temporarily on hold, so I can't test this myself.  If you have a PS3, give this a shot:

When you open the Netflix App, you will be prompted to log on to the Playstation Network.

Attempt to sign-in. The sign-in will fail

Press the O button to go back to the previous screen.

You will get another request to sign-in.

Attempt to sign-in again. The sign-in will fail again.

Press the O button again - you will now have access to Netflix.

From what I have read, you will not be able to add anything to your queue, but you can at least watch what you have in your existing Instant Queue.

Yesterday, Sony announced that their network would be down 'indefinitely'.  It appears that Sony is going to have to rebuild it from the ground up.  Today, an update was posted, clarifying the date of the "intrusion" (sometime between 4/17 and 4/19), and admitting that they are now facing the worst case scenario:

"we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained."

I like how in one sentence they say that "there is no evidence that credit card data was taken".  Then, in the very next sentence, they practically say, "but, yeah, your credit card information was taken".

The update goes on to advise customers to change their password information once the PSN is back up and running.  It also talks about steps that customers can take to protect themselves against identity theft in the event that their credit card information was compromised.

As of Midnight April 27th, Sony has no ETA when it comes to having the PSN online and operational.

If there is one positive thing to gleam from this experience, at least I'm not paying $60 a year to play online on my PS3, like I am for my XBox Live membership.