Alleged computer hacking of N.J. company by News Corp. subsidiary gets new attention

Source: New Jersey Star Ledger

Richard and George Rebh built an innovative business advertising on floor mats in grocery stores and were named New Jersey Entrepreneurs of the Year, but then a News Corp. marketing subsidiary set out to crush FLOORgraphics by a variety of questionable methods, according to court complaints by the Rebhs—including computer hacking.

As a cell phone hacking scandal rages across the Atlantic, the New Jersey computer hacking allegations are getting fresh attention.
In the middle of a trial in Trenton in 2009 regarding the lawsuit filed by the Rebhs, News Corp.’s subsidiary, News America Marketing In-Store Services, settled the case and then bought the Hamilton Township company in a 2009 deal worth about $30 million that requires the Rebhs to keep quiet about the case.
That amount stood in contrast to earnings at the time of about $1 million a year, according to reporting by Bnet.com, a business news website that has covered the case.
"News employed numerous illicit tactics in a prolonged and concerted effort to destroy (FLOORgraphics)," said a complaint filed by the company in 2006.
The complaint alleged that among other tactics, News America Marketing engaged in illegal computer espionage by breaking into FLOORgraphics’ password-protected computer system and obtaining proprietary information.
...
But in a trial transcript from March 2009, his brother, George Rebh testified that his company’s IT personnel found that in 2003 and 2004, Floorgraphics computer systems had been accessed without authorization on 11 occasions by computers registered to an IP address assigned to News America Marketing in Connecticut.
...
In addition to reporting the alleged computer hacking to News Corp. executives, the Rebhs reached out to Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.), who forwarded the matter to then-United States Attorney Chris Christie in 2005, records from another lawsuit show. That lawsuit by Insignia, another News America Marketing competitor, resulted in an even larger multi-million dollar settlement....

Read more: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/alleged_computer_hacking_of_nj.html

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Why didn't Chris Cristie pursue this as a criminal matter? It sure appears as if laws were broken. Was he afraid of Murdoch?

say by running negative stories on an opponent for the person you are bribing and conducting interviews with the candidate that cast them in a better light, I'm not saying thats why not much was done in this case by Christie though.

Blackmail? You've pretty much got 'em.

"fundraising" to just about everything under the sun.
Murdoch's company did not get to own the majority of the media by being nice. I think if one wasn't co-operative OR ENTRAPPED, then one would loose.
I think they are all liars including the people that they workload with and came into contact with on a regular basis. Murdoch has controlled the political outcomes, protected lies and deceits for too long.

News Corp is the problem, not just Murdoch, it's the whole organization and it's affiliates.

Were they really cutting into News Corp's ad revenue THAT much?

=========================

Rachel reported on it this evening.

to advertise products in the aisles, entrance etc.





From company profile, 2008, before News Corp went after the company.)

If you watch where you step FLOORgraphic's loves you. The company makes "billboards on the floor." FLOORgraphics provides In-store advertising through a network of over 12,000 retail locations. The company emphasizes the benefits of point-of-purchase advertising when compared to more traditional promotional marketing techniques. Serving a variety of industries, its client list includes Procter & Gamble, Kelloggs, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/106/106654.html

look down the next time you go to a convenience store and you may see a couple. It's advertising so it fits with News Corp's core business. You can advertise things on floor mats that you can't on TV like booze and cigarettes.

Don't think this was cutting into profits, more likely just a proven way to make money so they wanted it.

Took this photo in D.C. at a Metro Station last October.

We know what happened under Gonzales when a District Attorney showed some independence. To me it is more Gonzales and the FBI than Christie that has to answer for why no criminal charges were filed.

I imagine Murdoch's fortune was built on these tactics..
I hope he goes down in flames if he is guilty of this crap here in the U.S. ...
Probably won't because he who has the most money wins anymore....

Christie wouldn't investigate Murdoch because he was part of the Bush DOJ.

so, I wonder how many business pies rupert has his grubby fingers in and how much hacking, bribing, bullying was used to take a business down or buy them out? May get interesting in the US, if we have at least some in the justice department left who actually believe in pursuing crimes no matter who is involved.

for attempting to hack into their systems back in 2007.

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/09/farkcom-sues-over-attempted-hacking-fox.html

Interesting.

There seems to be a pattern here...

It is one and the same. Interestingly, perhaps unrelated, who knows, Christie claims all conversations with Roger Ailies are subject tomexecutive privilege.
http://gawker.com/5812713/gov-chris-christie-claims-fox-news-chief-as-confidential-adviser

as Christie's office told Holt it was?

belongs in a penitentiary. Free market my ass.

Can you hear the shredding going on at every FOX NEWS office as we speak? I can.

coming soon, "The Biggest Governor"

it totally makes sense why christie acts how he acts, does what he does--he's on the murdoch dole. They are funding a monster of their own making in christie.

Indeed--why did he not prosecute this criminal enterprise?

Don't know what they're complaining about. I'm sure that's much more than anyone else would have bought their company for.

Thanks for the thread, YBR.

I never thought the new heightened surveilllance in the USA was for detecting "evilllldoers". I've always assumed it was mainly set up so that right-wing companies could spy on their competitors.

It's because they are idealogues that this behavior is rampant. They are working toward a goal that they believe is more important than how they get there.

The ticking time bomb here is hacking into phones in the US. if this is shown then Newscorp. will be in serious trouble here.

The rest of his life in prison with MSNBC "Lock-Up" 24/7.

:thumbsup: