A phone-hacking scheme involving British royals and reporters working for one of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspapers went far beyond what was previously disclosed and prosecuted, according toThe New York Times.

Andy Coulson, currently media advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, is accused of having encouraged the hacking during his tenure as editor of Murdoch's News of the World paper.

According to the N.Y. Times, reporters working under Coulson targeted hundreds of victims – from Princes Harry and William to government and police officials and numerous celebrities, including soccer star David Beckham and his wife.

Most of the victims are only now learning that their phone voicemail accounts may have been accessed by reporters, four years after the investigation first launched. One young woman, who had previously been the victim in a high-profile sexual-assault case when she was 19, only recently received a letter confirming that her phone number was on a list of potential hack targets kept by News of the World employees.

Scotland Yard is being accused of violating the rights of victims by failing to inform them earlier that they were targeted and of purposely narrowing the investigation to a single reporter and private investigator in order to preserve a special information-sharing relationship law enforcement agents had with the tabloid. The investigation focused only on Clive Goodman, a veteran reporter who covered the royal family, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who worked for the tabloid.

Access to private voicemail messages occurred in two ways. In some cases, victims had simply neglected to change a default password phone carriers established for every new account. Anyone who knew the default four-digit code for a particular carrier – such as 1111 or 4444 – could access the accounts if they knew the victim's phone number.

Where victims did change the password, the paper's private investigators found another way to trick phone carriers into revealing the code. The N.Y. Times story does not detail the second method. In the United States, phone hackers have been known to use caller I.D. spoofing to access a victim's voicemail. The hacker calls the target's cellphone after setting their caller I.D. to the same number, which on some wireless carriers will drop the call right into the voicemail retrieval menu.

Although Coulson has long insisted he knew nothing about the illegal activity, sources who worked at the tabloid told the N.Y. Times Coulson not only knew about it, he actively encouraged it. A dozen former reporters said the hacking was so pervasive at News of the World that everyone knew about it. “The office cat knew," one longtime reporter said.

It all began to unravel in November 2005, when three aides to the royal family noticed that new voicemail messages received on their mobile phones were appearing in their mailboxes as if they'd already been listened to and saved. Then stories about Prince William began appearing in News of the World that made them think their phone accounts had been compromised.

Scotland Yard's counterintelligence division, which handles the security of the royal family, launched an investigation, which ultimately focused on Goodman and Mulcaire. For six months, officials tracked the two suspects as they hacked into the voicemail accounts of royal family members and workers in the royal household.

In one message retrieved from Prince Harry's phone, his brother William teased him about a minor scandal that hit the papers involving Harry and a stripper. Harry's girlfriend Chelsy was apparently upset over the incident, and William called to tease his brother. News of the World boldly quoted his voice mail message in a story.

When police raided Mulcaire's home, they found dozens of notebooks and computer files containing 2,978 complete or partial mobile phone numbers of potential victims, 91 mobile phone PIN codes, and 30 tape recordings made by Mulcaire. Mulcaire and Goodman were charged with conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications, and that's where the investigation ended. Police never questioned other reporters or editors at News of the World.

In the course of their investigation, Scotland Yard alerted only five other victims – whose names appeared in the indictments against Goodman and Mulcaire – and a handful of other people "with national security concerns: members of the government, the police and the military."

George Galloway, a member of Parliament, was among those alerted, as were Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association; Simon Hughes, a member of Parliament; supermodel Elle Macpherson; Max Clifford, a top public-relations agent who often fed exclusive gossip to News of the World but had fallen out with the tabloid shortly before his voicemail account was breached; and Sky Andrew, who represented top soccer stars.

Goodman and Mulcaire pleaded guilty to unlawful interception and were sentenced to several months in prison. They also lost their jobs with News of the World, but then sued for wrongful dismissal.

Mulcaire got 80,000 pounds (about $120,000) from the media outlet, and Goodman received an undisclosed amount. Coulson resigned from his management job, but was then hired as head of communications for the Conservative Party.

Then the lawsuits began. Taylor, one of the victims, sued the media outlet and received 700,000 pounds (more than $1 million) in a settlement, including legal expenses.

Clifford, another victim, didn't have to sue. Instead he reached an agreement with his old media partner: In exchange for receiving 1 million pounds (about $1.5 million), the PR rep would resume feeding exclusive gossip to the paper.

Now five other victims have filed lawsuits against News Group Newspapers, the Murdoch division that oversees News of the World. The suits will likely increase as more people learn they were victims. Another suit is being prepared against Scotland Yard.

Photo courtesy chrstopher/Flickr

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