Rupert Murdoch says if UK had its own version of the Patriot Act, he wouldn't be in this phone-hacking mess
By ONANTZIN News
2011-07-18
London -- Rupert Murdoch was quick to apologize for the hacking scandal shaking his News Corporation media empire in the UK. He went as far as to meet the family of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by News of the World.
But now that he's gotten past the apology part, the media mogul has lashed out at UK lawmakers, saying that he wouldn't be in this mess if they had passed their own Patriot Act following the 2005 London Bombings.
"The British have a number of laws that they enacted in the past decade to protect the state from terrorist citizens, but none of those laws make it legal to tap the average citizen's phone, like the Patriot Act in the US does", stated Murdoch in an interview with British tabloid The Sun. "Had the UK followed the exemplary lead of the US to protect itself by spying on its own citizens, I wouldn't be in this tight situation; I would have been able to bribe government officials to tap the phones for me legally"
Although it's too late for News of the World, which will shut down as a result of the phone hacking scandal, Rupert Murdoch says he will use all his resources to help pass laws in Britain that will allow the government to tap people's phones legally - that way, his other newspapers in the UK won't have to go through what News of the World went through.