but why has the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone provoked such hysteria (and, indeed, the Leveson Inquiry)?
The News of the World will surely justify it as hoping to prove Milly had only run away or, at worst, if she'd been kidnapped or killed, to find the perpetrator.
The truth, of course, is that it might provide a great story.
But my question is - was giving parents false hope for a few days a bad thing?
Allowing them to hope Milly was alive seems to me to be a good rather than bad thing (until, of course, her body was found).
It's a great story (if you don't look too closely). We, the dim public, can easily be fooled into thinking it was the worst crime in the world.
But let's be honest. It wasn't. There are far more serious questions to be asked.

The question is should they get away with it?
If you put yourself on a pedestal then be prepared for a nasty fall!

So is it the 'dim public' or Rupert Murdoch's fault? I think I know the answer. And I don't see how celebrity comes into it either? Hugh Grant is a terrific actor, but today he didn't say anything that nobody already knew. A waste of time.

hacking Millie's phone probably didn't make a jot of difference to the outcome and it would be difficult to comprehend what the family felt.

It;s the principle !.....those who pontificate on the rights and wrongs of others, delve into and sometimes destroy lives are up to their necks in arrogant illegality !

Actually in the last 24 hours I have forced a major newspaper in oz to remove a photograph from the web and I'm now working on the story as well which is full of inaccuracies.

That wouldn't have happened 6 months ago particularly as I've been agitating for 2 years up against a brick wall)

All I've met is an arrogant wall of silence from hacks who wield power..all suddenly changed because of an inquiry in Oz and the UK.

the reptiles are on the back foot for once and I'm enjoying it !

## on another note..there is cafe in Sydney I regularly drop into except not today !!!

an abandoned suitcase has been found there this morning with one million dollars in it !!!

"why has the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone provoked such hysteria"

Usually the media jusitfies its "investigative" reporting with the "public interest" or with the use actors, footballers, politicians etc. make of the media when they want to promote something/themselves: "If you use us, we can use you."

In the Dowler case there is no justification whatsoever.