Papers 'broke privacy law before'

17 July 2011 Last updated at 00:10 GMT Alex Salmond said newspapers have previously broken data protection laws The Scottish government is to urge the public inquiry into phone hacking and media regulation to consider a 2006 report on privacy laws being broken.

The first minister highlighted the Operation Motorman report after he was asked by UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to comment on the inquiry's remit.

Alex Salmond said the study revealed about 3,000 cases of various newspapers breaking data protection laws.

He added that questions remained over why no action was taken then.

The Information Commissioner's report exposed an extensive illegal trade in confidential personal information and made recommendations to government and industry.

Mr Salmond said: "We will submit the Scottish government's full response to the UK government's draft terms of reference on Monday, and trust that it will secure a positive response so that the inquiry can be comprehensive and thorough in the public interest."

Prime Minister David Cameron has asked Lord Justice Leveson to oversee the public inquiry after a phone-hacking scandal, led to the closure of the UK's biggest-selling newspaper, the News of the World.

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If the SNP have nothing to hide then Alex Salmond must speak out and convince the public there has been no quid pro quo for Rupert Murdoch's support of the SNP”

End Quote Paul Martin Scottish Labour Meanwhile, Scottish Labour claimed there were unanswered questions over the SNP's links with News International - the newspaper's owner.

The party published a list of 25 questions, including asking when the first minister last met with News International chairman James Murdoch, as well as how much the SNP has spent on advertising with the company in the past four years.

Scottish Labour's business manager Paul Martin said: "Throughout the entire phone hacking scandal Alex Salmond has ditched his usual megaphone diplomacy and has been uncharacteristically silent.

"Alex Salmond has desperately attempted to come across as whiter than white by keeping schtum and resorting to his default position of blaming Westminster.

"He would clearly rather we all ignored the fact that he personally met with James Murdoch, wined and dined the editor of the Scottish News of the World and provided free articles and advertising to News International newspapers worth thousands of pounds."

He called on Alex Salmond to speak out and convince the public there had been "no quid pro quo for Rupert Murdoch's support of the SNP".

'Embarrassing nonsense'

The SNP condemned Labour's attack.

A party spokesman said: "This is embarrassing nonsense from Paul Martin - he obviously doesn't let the facts get in the way of a bad press release.

"For example, the first minister was on record at a press conference last week calling on Rebekah Brooks to step down, and also gave numerous broadcast interviews supporting the Commons motion - of which the SNP was a co-sponsor - calling on News Corp's BSkyB bid to be withdrawn.

"Instead of engaging in smear, the key question Paul Martin has to answer is why the last Labour government did precisely nothing about the Operation Motorman report published by the Information Commissioner in 2006, revealing over 3,000 cases of a range of newspapers breaking data protection laws."

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Footballer 'entitled' to privacy

16 May 2011 Last updated at 16:58 GMT Imogen Thomas said her reputation had been 'trashed' A footballer granted a temporary injunction to stop publication about a relationship with a reality TV star was "fully entitled" to anonymity, a High Court judge says.

Justice Eady has reserved judgement on lifting the injunction after a private hearing with the man's lawyers, the Sun and Imogen Thomas in London.

He said the footballer was married with a family and the court had to consider his privacy rights under European law.

Ms Thomas said she had been "gagged".

Justice Eady granted the temporary injunction last month and said Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms applied to the man's right to privacy.

He said the footballer was likely to obtain a permanent injunction if the case went to trial and the "information" was such that he was entitled to a "reasonable expectation of privacy".

The judge added: "It seemed to me that the (footballer) was fully entitled to the protection of anonymity."

The temporary injunction was issued against News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, and against Ms Thomas to "restrain publication" of the footballer's identity and further accounts of the relationship.

They were at the High Court on Monday to get the injunction lifted, allowing them to publish the name of the footballer.

'Smelled a rat'

It came after the Sun published an article on 14 April about a sexual relationship Ms Thomas had with the footballer, who was not named in the story.

The footballer made a statement saying he met Ms Thomas last September, and two further times in November and December, the judge said, although Ms Thomas's "published account" said an affair lasted for six months.

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If this is the way privacy injunctions are supposed to work, then there's something seriously wrong with the law”

End Quote Imogen Thomas Mr Justice Eady said evidence "appeared strongly to suggest" that the footballer was "being blackmailed".

The footballer's witness statement said Ms Thomas asked for ?50,000, which he initially refused to give her. She later increased her request to ?100,000.

It seemed that the footballer "may well have been set up" so that photographs could be taken of Ms Thomas going to meet the footballer at hotels where he was staying, the judge said.

On 13 April Ms Thomas told the footballer that the Sun was considering publishing a story about them having an affair for six months - with photographs of her at or near hotels.

"It seems... that the Sun was ready to take advantage of these prearranged meetings in order to be able to put forward the claim that it was The Sun which had found him 'romping with a busty Big Brother babe'," added the judge.

"This is no doubt to give the impression, which Ms Thomas herself may have fostered, that a sexual liaison between them was still continuing... in April," he said.

Ms Thomas' lawyer, David Price, told the court that his client denied "causing the publication" in the Sun or asking the footballer for money during their meetings.

Columnist's e-mails

Outside court Ms Thomas said in a statement: "I've read the judgment and am stunned by how I'm portrayed. Yet again, my name and my reputation are being trashed while the man I had a relationship with is able to hide.

"What's more, I can't even defend myself because I've been gagged. Where's the fairness in this? What about my reputation? If this is the way privacy injunctions are supposed to work, then there's something seriously wrong with the law."

Also at the hearing, lawyers for the footballer applied to see e-mails sent by former Sun editor and now columnist Kelvin MacKenzie.

They applied because MacKenzie said, on the BBC's Today programme, that he sometimes breaks injunctions and sends details to readers.

MacKenzie is not a party to the case, but if the application is granted and the e-mails show him to be flouting injunctions he knew about, then he would be in contempt of court, says BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman.

The judge has reserved judgement on the application regarding the e-mails, and the application to vary or lift the injunction.

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