Thread:Comments:Arrests, resignations and death as probe into Britain's phone hacking scandal widens/I love it/reply (2)

The appropriate outcome would be for the Dirty Digger to vanish in the same manner as an equally corrupt ex-competitor; mysteriously fall off the back of a yacht.

This form of corrupt, crooked journalism has been going on for seven or more years. Nobody has been safe from News International publications illegally digging up dirt on them. Only some of what they've found has been published. For example, shaming Paul McCartney by revealing that his new wife had a past as a high-class call-girl.

If they dig up this sort of stuff, and publish to boost ratings, ask yourself: What have they dug up that was more profitable not to publish? Methinks a couple of senior police officers is but the tip of the iceberg. A comprehensive investigation in the wake of hacking communications of the Royal Family over six years was blocked, and blocked multiple times; I can only conclude that - like most large corporations - a "mutually assured destruction" scenario has been engineered. In the IT industry where I've experience, this would be Apple vs Adobe vs Microsoft. They all have patents they could severely damage each other's businesses by exploiting. Here, we've the rich and powerful probably able to end dozens of careers of people in similar positions. So, everyone is very interested in seeing this go away quickly, and with minimal fuss.

I see the biggest crime around this is the substandard security on all our communications. We're denied "weapons grade" cryptography on day-to-day communications; most voicemail systems employ pisspoor PIN systems; banks use "on-the-cheap" home banking systems; access to records employs readily established information (eg, "What's your mother's maiden name?") It has to all come crashing down. If not due to wholly inadequate security measures, it'll fall because those who deal with daily access to such are on virtually minimum wage, or working in outsources near-third-world locations where a "cheap" bribe exceeds a month's salary, or any penalty for leaking personal information.