Plumbers of the World, a division of News Corp.

UK Media are in a frenzy today following a report by the Guardian targeting the tabloid News of the World, part of Rupert Murdoch's News International conglomeration along with Fox News, The Sun and The Times. Guardian's reports alleges that their lower-brow rival was systematically involved in a process of wire-tapping the phones and voice mails of various celebrities and politicos, and paying nearly £1 million to keep them from pressing charges. This re-opens a case from 2006 where one of their reporters, Clive Goodwin, was sentenced to four months of prison after being convicted of hacking into the mobile accounts of three members of the Royal family. Under oath to a select Parliamentary committee, editors and executives with News Corp. stated that Goodwin acted alone.

If that's the case, then Goodwin must have "1337 h4x0r sk11z" because documents obtained by Guardian (again Labour-leaning whilst Murdoch's operations are typically right-leaning) show that London's Tory mayor Boris Johnson, former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, supermodel Elle McPherson, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and up to 3,000 others may have been spied upon by reporters and staff at News of the World and potentially other News Corp. papers.

There is a time when subterfuge is necessary in public interest. Given the wide-range and magnitude of these accusations, this describes more blatant invasion of privacy than public interest, by a private entity for monetary gain. Further, when subterfuge is necessary, the astute reporter & editor will seek a response from the targeted subject, be it before or after publication, and seek more public evidence to back up their findings, to mitigate the risk of defamation.

Several members of the House of Commons would definitely have liked to know that they were being spied upon, as they called for an investigation to determine what law enforcement knew and, if pertinent, why they didn't act on it. (Guess they now know what it feels like to be on the other end of Big Brother.) And certainly there is a political twist, as again: it's a Labour-leaning paper ratting out a right-wing operation. Andy Coulson, the former editor of News of the World, who resigned after the initial incident with Goodwin, is now the PR director for the Conservative Party.

Tory leader David Cameron says Coulson's current job is safe. And Coulson's old boss, Les Hinton, assumed command of The Wall Street Journal after News Corp. bought out Dow Jones.

I sense plenty of fodder for Keith Olbermann tonight.