The City Security and Resilience Networks (CSARN) group is the UK’s largest business security advisory service, with no less than 15,000 UK and USA businesses comprising its extensive network of influence.
Two years ago, CSARN became the first organisation to run public briefings around the risks associated from falling victim to phone-hacking.
Now, Richard Bingley – the CEO at CSARN, which exists to advise businesses and high-profile individuals around security issues – has spoken out in favour of Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for a national inquiry into the allegations surrounding the illegal hacking of mobile phones.
Call for two inquiries to be launched
The Prime Minister has, in fact, called for two inquiries – one led by a judge – in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, describing the allegations that people’s phones had been hacked in order to generate stories as “simply disgusting”.
In a press conference at Downing Street, the UK’s political leader said people wanted to know what is happening following the revelations, and suggested action will be taken to get to the bottom of these specific revelations.
Cameron also outlined that action will be taken to learn wider lessons for the future of the press in this country, and that there needs to be “real clarity” about how all this came to pass such that responsibilities we all have for the future may be determined.
The Prime Minister and his deputy, Nick Clegg, have jointly agreed to establish a “full, public and independent” inquiry headed by a judge to investigate why the first police investigation failed, what exactly may have been going on at the News of the World and what was potentially happening at other newspapers.
There will be a second inquiry to learn the wider lessons for the future of the press. That particular investigation will look at the culture, practices and ethics of the British press.
CSARN leader backs the Prime Minister
“Experts from the intelligence, media and business sectors within our membership networks told the UK business community back in 2009 that it was not just high-profile celebrities who are increasingly targeted by some unscrupulous journalists, overseas intelligence services and foreign competitors,” explained Bingley in his support of the Prime Minister’s decision.
“Indeed all high-profile individuals and companies in the UK are at risk.”
As far as Bingley’s concerned, the accepted levels of ‘hostile media surveillance’ are far too high in the UK. “When you mix that up with the ease of cheaply acquiring phone and computer hacking devices,” he added, “it really does seem that most MPs have been slow to react on this.”
Bingley continued: “Regrettably, but not surprisingly, allegations against the News of World and some other tabloid investigators apparently working in partnership with a tiny number of unethical private investigators suggest enduring and endemic corruption and possible criminality.”
He went on to state: “In fact, we have seen for years that lawful British businesses, individuals and their families caught up in the eye of media storms, often through no fault of their own, have been subjected to hostile surveillance and unlawful monitoring of phone messages.”
In closing, Bingley made a plea to Cameron and his colleagues in Westminster.
“We call on this Government to begin the work which the last Labour Government should have started, and that is to establish a genuinely independent national enquiry into unlawful phone hacking.”
News of the World prints for final time
The last issue of the News of the World is reported to have sold all 4.5 million copies printed. Obviously, members of the public put aside their feelings of animosity over phone hacking for a moment or two to snap up a final souvenir copy of the paper that has been something of a British institution for the last 168 years.
The official sales figure will not be confirmed until News International collates consolidates figures later on today, but the reported figure is certainly the highest News of the World has managed since the late 1990s.
The surge in sales of the last-ever edition, which signed off with the headline ‘Thank you and goodbye’, represents an increase of 70% over and above the paper’s typical current weekend circulation of 2.66 million.
Action taken as the police investigation continues
The Prime Minister also stated: “We need action now to learn the wider lessons for the future of the press. This is something we can get on with straightaway, even while the police investigation is still ongoing. That is why I want to establish a second inquiry to begin at the earliest available opportunity, ideally now – this summer.”
The inquiry will be conducted by what the Prime Minister describes as a “credible panel of figures drawn from a range of different backgrounds: figures who command the full support, respect and, above all, confidence of the public at large.”
In the press conference, PM Cameron also said he took “full responsibility” for hiring Andy Coulson. He said he had decided “to give him a second chance, but the second chance didn’t work out and he had to resign.”
The Prime Minister concluded by saying: “I want a police service that has proven itself beyond reproach, a political system that people feel is on their side and a press that is free and rigorous, that investigates and entertains, that holds those in power to account and occasionally – yes, even regularly – drives them mad.”
Tellingly, he said: “In the end, we need a free press that is also clean and trustworthy. That is what people want. That is what I want, and I will not rest until we get it.”
