Speed Read: Prince and The Tapper

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Fourteen years after Princess Diana's good friend James Gilbey committed the lèse majesté of referring to Her Royal Highness as "Squidgy" in a bugged phone conversation, the British royal family has again fallen victim to a wiretapping scandal. Last week, London's Metropolitan Police [an error occurred while processing this directive] arrested journalist Clive Goodman, chief royal correspondent at Britain's largest Sunday tabloid, the News of the World (NOTW), for allegedly obtaining private information by hacking into mobile-phone voice-mail messages of top aides of Prince Charles.

The Scoop:
Why the arrest? According to Scotland Yard, Goodman's nine alleged offenses include conspiracy to "intercept communications"; two other men were also arrested. Hacking into mobile-phone answering services, a practice generally referred to as "phone-screwing," has become a well-known technique used by British tabloids. Staffers at Clarence House — the official residence of Prince Charles, wife Camilla and his sons William and Harry — were tipped off when the NOTW published information on an upcoming under-wraps meeting between William and a British television reporter.

What are the consequences? Goodman, who has been suspended from his journalism duties, could face up to two years in prison and substantial fines if convicted. And News Corporation honcho Rupert Murdoch's publication could be left looking for a new chief royal correspondent.

Could the scandal grow? The Metropolitan Police first conducted a small investigation into the Goodman affair. But it charged its antiterror unit with a larger probe in light of indications that many prominent politicians, actors and athletes — often devout mobile-phone users — might also have been compromised. Phone companies O2 and Vodafone have been cooperating with detectives to identify any other targeted customers.

Was the dirt worth the drama? Goodman's alleged spycraft revealed nothing as salacious as Charles' famous 1989 declaration that he wanted to be reincarnated as one of then-mistress Camilla's feminine products. But he did manage to reveal that heartthrob-in-waiting William had consulted his knee surgeon after pulling a tendon.