Cell Phone Hacking: Brit Tabloids Go Too Far

The British tabloids are notorious for their brazen shamelessness, but they have finally taken things too far.

News of the World, an English rag operated by Rupert Murdock's News International, has been enveloped in a scandal of its own design after the Guardian discovered that the magazine had been hacking the cell phone of a then-missing teenager.

The paper allegedly hacked into Milly Dowler's mobile after she went missing in 2002. The search for Dowler, who was soon discovered to have been abducted and murdered, consumed Great Britain at the time. News of the World was apparently intercepting Dowler's calls and text messages, sometimes deleting them to give Dowler's parents false hope.

There are also reports that News of the World and News International paid police officers for information. Scotland Yard is currently investigating the claims.

It has also been revealed that the publications hacked the cell phones of the family members of the victims of the 2005 bombing in the London which killed 52 people

I just felt stunned and horrified, Graham Foulkes, father of one of the 2005 victims, told The Associated Press. I find it hard to believe someone could be so wicked and so evil, and that someone could work for an organization that even today is trying to defend what they see as normal practices.

The British government is outraged as it will likely launch a formal investigation soon.

We do need to have an inquiry, possibly inquiries, into what has happened, Prime Minister, David Cameron, told Parliament. We are no longer talking here about politicians and celebrities, we are talking about murder victims, potentially terrorist victims, having their phones hacked into.

It is absolutely disgusting, what has taken place, and I think everyone in this House and indeed this country will be revolted by what they have heard and what they have seen on their television screens, Cameron said.