There are more than two issues involved, albeit many do not involve
only the News of the World or News International. There appear to be
many facets.
> For the parent
> company, the issue is whether NOTW
(and all its headaches)
> was worth defending against the value and
potential of BSkyB
> and other, still vibrant, papers.
As some
reported comments have said; damage limitation as an aspect of some of
the litigation expected to eventually following the revelations also
needs to be considered in the closure decision.
> Looking at this from
the perspective of scandals that have
> brought down major political
figures (specifically Nixon),
> the key challenge was to find a
firebreak.
I would conjecture that the firebreak was found and
implemented in 2007/8 when the original investigation was shelved.
This, in a very British way would allow for the automatic weeding of
audit trails on all police and other computer systems to take place
over a period of time allowing the majority of officers engaged in
illicit press disclosures, if they ceased disclosing, to escape easy
prosecution as evidence would be limited. (Evidence potentially
originally available in the police audit trails because of
unexplainable checks on innocent people.) Any audit material at News
International would then be less valuable, as it would stand largely on
its own, and be more deniable. Considered in that way the life span of
audit trails, does not promote greater official transparency and
accountability, they merely delay or subvert effective investigation of
any incident involving the establishment at the time of discovery.
Having lived through other embarrassing things (which were not within
direct organisational control or manipulation) in a previous life, the
modus operandi for internally dealing with such matters in a way which
does not bring the police service into disrepute (a short sighted
perspective of an unlawful act I do not agree with, as much value is
lost) is to use ongoing ethical and internal standards drives during
any interim period to assist to eradicate or reducing the problematic
behaviour. Whilst I do agree that a common problem needs dealing with
sensitively, to base the answer on what is effectively a cover up
defeats the objective by building into that answer the perception that
wrongdoing is an acceptable thing which is covered up and then subject
to a training requirement. Not all forms of character interpret that as
a difficulty which should stop breaches in the future; rather they seem
to see it as a promotion of that way of living. The outcome of the
muted public enquiry in this area will be interesting.
Now turning to
some speculation. I wonder which legal bodies would also come into the
frame. Certainly politicians would in some part have been involved in
similar things, something which seems to have been openly admitted. I
would also expect many legal chambers to utilise the media in some
legal way (but probably not during criminal process) so embarrassing
difficulties could potentially have existed/exist there. The DP
difficulties caused have been extensive and ongoing, but with so much
not spoken about it is worth openly documenting here.
With society now
facing these issues, it will be interesting to see what the outcomes
are, for certain some will argue audit trail retention should be
increased, others will argue it should be decreased, both equally valid
views held within particular world views and perceived as giving some
advantage to each. Some will focus on such things as surveillance,
social networking and access to data in the cloud, all issues which can
be connected directly to this enquiry. Certainly so far the release of
information about the case seems to be being well managed with the
result of focusing peoples attention and thinking down certain
channels, so I guess a particular outcome or outcomes is/are already
being built to suit some interests. I suspect the information society
is at last beginning to build itself (or some would say the politicians
are).
The perspectives on privacy coming to light are quiet
fascinating, as are many of the DP views, opportunities and
implications.
I am uncertain how press freedoms will fare though.
Ian W
N.B. On Watergate.. I often wonder, given todays ethic, if Nixon
was not a man before his time.
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
This list is for those interested in Data Protection
> issues [mailto:
[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Lawrence Serewicz
>
Sent: 08 July 2011 15:11
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
Subject: Re: [data-protection] News of the World closure
>
>
> Ian,
>
I think there are two issues that need to be disentangled.
> First
there is the issue for the parent company to the NOTW.
> Second, there
is the political issues from the central actors
> within the first
issue.
>
> For the parent company, the DP issues had very little, if
> any, effect on the decision to close NOTW. For the parent
> company,
the issue is whether NOTW (and all its headaches)
> was worth
defending against the value and potential of BSkyB
> and other, still
vibrant, papers. The parent company has
> survived and thrived
because of its pragmatic approach to
> such decisions.
>
> The
problematic question for the parent company is whether
> this major
surgery will be enough to remove the mustard seed,
> which has been
growing within the public's mind and the
> establishment's mind
concerning the DP issues. If the
> surgery does not cut the roots out
from the mustard plant
> that is growing, how far up the
organisational tree does the
> knowledge of phone hacking (the rot)
go, then this decision
> will be in vain, up to a point. They may
lose more, but they
> will not collapse entirely. However, this leads
to the
> greater difficulty for the UK political regime (and therein
> the fuller effect of the DP issues).
>
> Looking at this from the
perspective of scandals that have
> brought down major political
figures (specifically Nixon),
> the key challenge was to find a
firebreak. In this instance,
> is Andy Coulson that person? Nixon et
al. thought that by
> cutting loose a number of junior actors in the
drama, they
> would be able to salvage themselves. Alas, the rot from
the
> junior actors (now cut loose) was such that the exposure went
>
up each stage. At each stage, the larger and larger actors
> realized
they too were going to be cut loose. Once that flow
> went negative
(the larger actors demonstrating to the junior
> actors that they were
no longer of value to (and therefore no
> longer protected by) the
larger organisation, the defence set
> out by the top figure began to
crumble.
>
> One thing to remember, is that the US House was dogged
in
> their pursuit of the truth of the matter. Barbara Jordan's
>
speech on this topic is probably one of the best political
> speeches
in US history and an great example of how the
> legislature checks the
power of an executive. The question
> in the UK is whether the
Parliament has the will or the
> capacity, given the party that is in
power has a greater
> control over parliamentary business than the
political party
> in the US was able to wield under Nixon, to convene
such an
> enquiry and see it to the end. Given the relationship of
the
> central actors (at this stage) to the current political
>
establishment, and in one case their role within the
> administration,
there is a very strong possibility that the
> DP issue widens into a
full scale investigation of the
> current administration.
>
> To put
it differently, but directly, the other shoe has yet
> to drop and
until it does, we cannot know if the DP issue has
> had the effect
that we believe it has had.
>
> Best,
>
> Lawrence
>
>
>
>
>
>
-----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in
Data Protection
> issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ian Welton
> Sent: 08 July 2011 14:25
> To: data-
[log in to unmask]
> Subject: [data-protection] News of the
World closure
>
> Did the News of the World close primarily because it
showed
> too little respect for peoples privacy, or were/are other
>
factors more causative of the closure?
>
> Whilst it does seem strange
that the life of audit
> trails eventually resulted in the News of the
World being
> castigated for the actions leading to its eventual
closure,
> it does seem that a great many less obvious and protective
> factors were probably also at work during this period of time.
>
>
Can the News of the World
> realistically be used as an example
illustrative of the
> damage which can be caused to an organisation
by
> non-compliance with DP type matters, or will other factor(s)
>
be the over-riding issue(s) actually raised in peoples minds?
>
> Are
DP practitioners using this case (or
> perceive they will) as an
extreme example of organisational
> damage/necessary damage
limitation.
>
> If so which angle is considered
> the best one to
present the case study from to maximize DP
> rather than other
criminal issues.
>
> Ian W
>
>
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