You’re running a NewsCorp/NDS anti-piracy operation that involves helping hackers to pirate a competitor’s product to win their trust—so when do you need to tell your competitor what you’re doing? Continue reading →

News Corp and NDS counsel must have known it was going to get ugly, after NDS chief Abe Peled flew out of the country the night before he was due to testify. But did they really have any idea just how upset Judge David Carter was going to get? Continue reading →

In April 2008, the month that James Murdoch agreed secretly to pay Gordon Taylor £700,000 to settle a UK phone hacking claim, Judge David Carter in the District Court of California was asking questions about corporate responsibility—when a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was accused of corrupt behaviour, how high in the chain of command should executives be called to account? Continue reading →

In mid-2007 the New York Times ran a survey from political website “The Hotline”, which had set out to track “face time”: the amount of time in the previous six months that the 18 Democrat and Republican candidates had appeared on NBS, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox or MSNBC. Some 3,363 minutes of interviews were tallied, and the Times ended up with a table showing how each of the 18 candidates had fared in terms of air time, being interviewed on the six networks, excluding news reports or taking part on panels. Inevitably, it was portrayed as a bubble diagram. Continue reading →

As the clock ticks down in the last days of the US election, it’s already clear who one of the losers has been. Continue reading →

NDS Operational Security chief Reuven Hasak on how Ray Adams’ hard drive went missing, and his plan to sue him immediately after the 2008 EchoStar trial. (This does not appear to have occurred). Given the strength of Hasak’s comments it would be very surprising then if any branch of News Corporation or its associates had ever provided financial or other assistance to Adams, directly or indirectly, after his departure from NDS in May 2002. Continue reading →

2008 Testimony by Reuven Hasak, former deputy head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Beit, since 1996 head of NDS Operational Security, a division of News Corporation. Cross-examination by EchoStar lawyer Chad Hagan about Exhibit 2009 and the Toronto incident. Continue reading →

Abbreviations

JN  John Norris, US head NDS Operational Security

LR Larry Rissler security chief for NDS client DirecTV

Alex     NDS code name for Oliver Koemmerling

PC       Canadian pirate, informant for Rissler

NDC  News Datacom, renamed NDS

BILL       NDS code name for Canadian pirate Marty Mullen

Jellyfish  NDS code name for associate of Koemmerling

POMELLA  NDS code name ofr European hacker

BELLA    NDS code name for an associate of Koemmerling

Exhibit 2009 Case No. SA CV03-950 DOC (JTL)

FAX

Reuven.

As I discussed with you the announcement by John that Larry R had been told about Alex was something of a major surprise. I know that you know the story from JN. What I am doing here is putting my perspective so that you have a record of how I see things. I have not discussed this with JN and will not mention it to him. This is a communication between myself and you alone. Continue reading →