 
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.