By Kevin McCauley
Senator Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, penned a May 2 letter to Lord Leveson, head of the News Corp. hacking probe in the U.K., asking for any information about possible illegal activities that occurred in the U.S. or involved American citizens.
“I would like to know whether News International or any other News Corp. business used hacking, bribing, or other similar tactics when operating in the U.S., wrote the West Virginia Democrat.
He’s looking for “evidence suggesting that News International employees, or their agents intercepted messages created by U.S. citizens, or messages that originated in the U.S.”
Rockefeller praised the Leveson Inquiry as an “absolutely essential exercise in transparency and accountability.”
He believes that while “members of the media have the freedom to aggressively probe their government’s activities and expose wrongdoing,” they also have a duty to obey the law.
“Their rights as journalists are very properly counterbalanced by laws that protect citizens’ privacy and prevent public corruption,” wrote Rockefeller.
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