phone hacking

American

noun

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

Other Word Forms

phone hacker noun

Etymology

Origin of phone hacking

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There, he answered questions about the paper's use of private investigators to obtain information, and claimed there was no evidence of phone hacking.

From BBC

Sherborne said this was "prima facie" evidence of phone hacking, to which Dacre responded by saying it was only "evidence" Miskiw was "desperately trying to get work out" of the paper.

From BBC

He said the information in each article was obtained by "entirely legitimate reporting" and said ANL is able to call a witness or witnesses to explain how the article was sourced "in relation to almost every article alleged to be the product of phone hacking or phone tapping".

From BBC

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

Two UK tabloids accused of phone hacking and other "unlawful information gathering" against Prince Harry and six high-profile figures insisted Tuesday they had relied on "legitimate" sources for their stories.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023