Paul Sonne

News Corp. Reaches Settlements in Some Phone-Hacking Cases

Paul Sonne and Cassell Bryan-Low, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in Media on January 19 at 3:44 pm PT

News Corp. has reached settlements in a majority of the civil lawsuits it faces in Britain over phone hacking at the now-closed News of the World tabloid, but the media giant faces new claims by victims’ lawyers that senior employees covered up wrongdoing and destroyed evidence.

U.S. Restricts U.A.E. Firm for Web Filter Sale to Syria

Paul Sonne and Steve Stecklow, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in Voices on December 16, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

The Department of Commerce is placing restrictions on a person and a company in the United Arab Emirates for supplying Syria with Internet-filtering devices made by California-based Blue Coat Systems Inc.

Life Under the Gaze of Gadhafi’s Spies

Margaret Coker and Paul Sonne, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 14, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

In August 2010, Libyan journalist Khaled Mehiri shot an email to his editor at al-Jazeera proposing an article about the hollow nature of the Gadhafi regime’s anticorruption efforts.

James Murdoch Exits Newspaper Boards

Paul Sonne and Cassell Bryan-Low, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 23, 2011 at 5:16 pm PT

James Murdoch has left the boards of operating companies overseeing News Corp.’s U.K. newspapers the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times, according to British regulatory filings, which registered the changes in September.

U.S. Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses Its Gear to Block Web

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Paul Sonne and Nour Malas, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 28, 2011 at 4:17 pm PT

A U.S. company that makes Internet-blocking gear acknowledges that Syria has been using at least 13 of its devices to censor Web activity there — an admission that comes as the Syrian government cracks down on its citizens and silences their online activities.

Phone-Hacking Allegations Rattle News Corp. Tabloid

Paul Sonne and Cassell Bryan-Low, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 6, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

News Corp.’s tabloid reporting scandal swelled anew Tuesday, as allegations about the possible hacking of a dead teenager’s phone unleashed public outrage and placed the company’s top U.K. newspaper executive in the hot seat.

U.S. Products Help Block Mideast Web

Paul Sonne and Steve Stecklow, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on March 27, 2011 at 8:32 pm PT

As Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet, the U.S. faces an uncomfortable reality: American companies provide much of the technology used to block websites.

Plastic Surgeon Figures in Google Face-Off in Spain

Paul Sonne, Max Colchester and David Roman, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on March 7, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

In 1991, the Spanish newspaper El País published an article centered on a dispute between Madrid plastic surgeon Hugo Guidotti Russo and one of his patients over an allegedly botched breast surgery. The headline: “The Risk of Wanting to Be Slim.”

Shunned Profiling Technology on the Verge of Comeback

Steve Stecklow and Paul Sonne, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 24, 2010 at 12:00 am PT

One of the most potentially intrusive technologies for profiling and targeting Internet users with ads is on the verge of a comeback, two years after an outcry by privacy advocates in the U.S. and Britain appeared to kill it.

EU Chews on Web Cookies

Paul Sonne and John W. Miller, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 22, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

Europe’s effort to regulate online “cookies” is crumbling, exposing how tough it is to curb the practice of tracking Internet users’ movements on the Web. Seeking to be a leader in protecting online privacy, the European Union last year passed a law requiring companies to obtain consent from Web users when tracking files such as cookies are placed on users’ computers. Enactment awaits action by member countries.

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