A site geared toward collecting anonymously sourced information about the phone hacking scandal surrounding Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corp., has appeared online. Thus far, Murdoch Leaks, as the site is titled, only has submission information displayed. "With the recent phone hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and other aspects of his empire, it's become evident that the fourth estate has failed so it's time to invoke the fifth estate. And what is that? - It is You!" is written on the site, along with a Twitter link.
TechCrunch was the first site to notice the mysterious website's appearance, and theorized that it was another product of the LulzSec/Anonymous hacking collective. After all, a hacker associated with the group claims to have 4GB of incriminating emails from within Murdoch's news properties.
However, MurdochLeaks tweeted that "we have no boat," disassociating itself with LulzSec, which often portrays itself like sailors on a boat, traversing the internet, and sometimes refers to itself as "lulzboat."
In the group's Twitter bio, they claim to be "Making Rupert Murdoch, News Corp and News International accountable."
The site's domain name is registered via Cinipac, a German anonymous hosting service that shields the identity of whoever registered the site. The domain was registered July 13, and lists an address in Malaysia — one used often by Cinipac. A phone number with a Washington, D.C. area code is also listed on the domain registration. When called, the number goes directly to a recorded Cinipac message.
