LONDON – Telecoms giant Vodafone gave British police the mobile phone records of 1700 people working for News UK, the company that publishes several top British newspapers, The Times reports.
The Times, owned by News UK which is part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, said staff had been informed of the breach by chief executive Mark Darcey on Tuesday.
It concerned call records of staff at The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun between 2005 and 2007, the newspaper said.
News UK chief executive Mike Darcey said in a statement in The Times story that he was “personally appalled” at the breach and that Vodafone had apologised.
“The mobile phone records of journalists — and lawyers — contain privileged information and we have made clear to them that we regard this as a very serious issue,” Mr Darcey said.
