What happens when one of the biggest media groups in the world sets up its
own private security force?
What happens when part of this operation goes rogue?
News of the World is not the first Murdoch company to be accused of
skullduggery. Murdochs Pirates is about the dark deeds of a secret
division of News Corp, based in Jerusalem, operating in a combustible
world of ambitious ex Scotland Yard men and former French and Israeli
secret service agents, who have one thing in common - they have all left
their previous employment under controversial circumstances. NDS produces
smart cards for use by pay TV operators; this is a fiercely competitive
field and one of the ways you get business is to demonstrate that the
smart cards produced by your rivals can be easily pirated. Unless you are
very careful, sometimes those pirated versions make their way out into the
real world, where they can really damage your competitors businesses.
Murdochs Pirates reads like a thriller, set in the arcane world of hackers
and pirates. There are mysterious deaths, break-ins and wild chases. Some
of the individuals involved may well be amongst the brightest minds on the
planet, but sometimes their rivalry can get out of hand and their
impulsive behaviour can defy logic. Chenoweth recounts this clandestine
war with his customary lucidity, drollery and brio.