phone hacking

American  

noun

1. an act or instance of gaining access to a phone's voicemail, email, text messages, etc., without authorization from the phone's owner.

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Other Word Forms

• phone hacker
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of phone hacking

First recorded in 1980–85

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phone hacking

Judge Matthew Nicklin dismissed claims that reporters and investigators working for the Daily Mail had engaged in phone hacking and unlawful information gathering, in a ruling by the High Court Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Sherborne suggested the newspaper had been unable to challenge the complaint because the information had been obtained through phone hacking and the true source could not be revealed.

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026

Last year, on the eve of another scheduled trial, Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloid publisher NGN agreed to pay him "substantial damages" for privacy breaches, including phone hacking.

From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026

Last year, he also settled in his court action against Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloid publisher, which agreed to pay him "substantial damages" for privacy breaches, including phone hacking.

From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026

This notion of collective innovation and communal software ownership distanced the act of computer hacking in the 1960s from the tunnel hacking and phone hacking of the 1950s.

From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams

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