What can phone hackers get from you?

My recent post on the News of the World newspaper has made me think about the ease of phone hacking. If investigators, reporters and editors of the tabloid found it easy to hack the phones of victims, does that mean my phone is easily accessible to phone hackers? It is quite a scary thought isn't it?

I own a Blackberry Torch Smartphone. Before I purchased this mobile I had a Samsung Ericsson, purely for the fact it had enough data space to save all my favorite songs and that was it. There wasn't much more to it. When everyone around me was buying either a Blackberry or an I-phone, and the media was constantly advertising smartphones I began to get curious, and we all know the saying "Curiosity killed the cat!"

I can't imagine life without a smartphone. Scuse the pun but they are smart! I use it to check my emails, to get Facebook and Twitter alerts, to message my other blackberry contacts for free, to get directions, and to get alerted on important dates to remember. As you can tell my smartphone holds so much information about me. I check it regularly and probably would feel lost without it. I love being able to use the internet freely especially in conversations that turn into "I don't know, Google it!"

However, amongst all the benefits of being a smartphone owner there are some negatives. When society used old mobiles we were all less vunerable to phone hacking. We are now opening up to the threats and making ourselves more prone to internet Issues. Hackers can find out all sorts of information so although technology is  a high demand to us we should ask if we are being safe? Would we be better owning a stone age phone?

Why after 168 years the News of the World will stop?

It was recently announced News of the World was going to stop publishing after 168 years of circulation. I couldn't believe it! My father has brought the English newspaper for as long as I can remember and I'm sure it was the same in most households. This newspaper was the one to buy on a Sunday, but now are we just suppose to stop because it is being shut down? Is it as simple as that?

The News of the World was killed off due to a crisis over a phone- hacking scandal. It was said to have hacked in the phones of a murdered teenager (Milly Dowler), relatives of other murdered children, victims of the London bombing, and the families of soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. This is absolutely disgusting and a successful organisation like NOTW should not felt the need to do this just to generate a story. I fully understand the hatred towards the paper. It is a toxic brand and investigators as well as reporters should be ashamed. Personally I feel the chief executive Rupert Murdoch had to shut down because it would have been too difficult to build the brand reputation back whether they did or didn't hack phones.

For example, London Retailers stopped selling the NOTW before it was culminated and prompted other retailers to do the same.The allegations against the paper was enough for people to stop buying it and reading it. People have been affected by the hacking and in my eyes at least shops are considering the feelings of their community. We can now spend our money on honest and hardworking newspapers!