News Corps. has its own “lather, rinse, repeat” pattern. Hack, settle, buy. That’s what they’ve done with many a business who has retaliated after having been hacked by them. They end up settling for a tidy sum, then get bought and controlled by the perpe-traitor, News Corp.

In fact, over the last ten years or so, they’ve had all sorts of lawsuits filed against them for corporate espionage, aka hacking, so that they can access information that puts them at an advantage in [insert market here]. Then Murdoch and Co. buy the companies that sued them and it all goes away.

What a racket.

Now it all could be coming back to bite them in the hiney. Via the L.A. Times:

Most of these cases are likely past the time when legal action could be brought, but these allegations could provide a hook for a fishing expedition by the government to determine whether hacking was limited to News Corp.’s British tabloid or part of the broader corporate culture.

It turns out that News America is only one of many News Corps. companies taking part in this sleazy stuff:

News Digital Systems, or NDS, faced similar allegations almost a decade ago by three companies: Vivendi’s French pay-TV operator Canal Plus and U.S. satellite broadcasters Dish Network and DirecTV. [...]

In 2002, however, Canal Plus claimed NDS engineers had cracked its secret code, extracted the anti-piracy software and leaked it on the Internet. Dish and DirecTV alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. These actions were an attempt to give NDS a competitive advantage by weakening its rivals, the suits alleged.

Guess which Evil Master of Destroying The Enemy made deals with all three companies:

In 2002, News Corp. bought Vivendi’s Italian pay-TV platform Telepiu, and in 2003, it took control of DirecTV.

You guessed right.

But at least now, those power grabs may backfire, and that would be some consolation.

Yes, by all means, James, “clarify” your testimony. Or as I call it, “weasel”:

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers on Friday demanded that James Murdoch clarify why testimony he gave to a parliamentary committee probing the phone hacking scandal conflicted with a statement from two former executives.

The two people who challenged his previous testimony are former News of the World editor Colin Myler and Tom Crone, and former lawyer for News Corp.’s British arm, News International.

James M. doesn’t have to actually attend another hearing, though, his written answers will suffice for now. Too bad. Body language can be revealing, although James seems pretty slick. Hopefully not slick enough to slither out of giving truthful testimony.

Here is another link I can’t follow since my New York Times access is limited, but I can share the email alert:

Joel I. Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor, was in a tricky position. Three weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch asked Mr. Klein, now his trusted deputy, to oversee an investigation into the phone hacking scandal that has deeply wounded News Corporation and its chairman, something Mr. Klein was eager to avoid.

“I am trying to get as far away from this as I can,” he lamented to a friend.

He has not succeeded. Mr. Klein, who joined News Corporation as a senior vice president in January, is not only responsible for the investigation that could uncover what company managers knew about the hacking, but he has become one of Mr. Murdoch’s closest and most visible advisers throughout the crisis.

His seemingly contradictory roles — de facto chief of internal affairs officer and ascendant executive with Mr. Murdoch’s ear — are raising questions about how robust and objective the internal inquiry can be.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/business/media/joel-klein-ex-schools-chief-leads-internal-news-corp-inquiry.html?emc=na

So a Murdoch buddy– a Foxer guarding the hen house– could very well interfere with what should be an “objective” internal inquiry (oxymoron). What could be more shocking.