• by Erik Sass , July 13, 2011

Less than a week after Rupert Murdoch closed the 168-year-old News of the World, the first ripples of the tabloid phone-hacking scandal in the U.K. are being felt on this side of the Atlantic.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., called for a new investigation into the practices of the shuttered tabloid -- and possibly other News Corp. properties -- here in the United States.

It's unclear whether other members of Congress will support Rockefeller's demand.

Rockefeller cited allegations, which surfaced in the U.K. last week, that News of the World reporters hacked into the voice mails of victims of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, although the hacks were said to focus primarily on British victims of the attacks. The possibility remains open that American victims also had their voice mails hacked.

In an official statement Rockefeller explained: "I am concerned that the admitted phone hacking in London by the News Corp. may have extended to 9/11 victims or other Americans. If they did, the consequences will be severe."

However, the current chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said he has no plans to participate in such an inquiry at present. This could change if other members of Congress join Rockefeller in calling for an investigation.

The U.K. has been rocked by the revelation of widespread phone-hacking by private investigators hired by NOTW, targeting ordinary Britons, including teenage murder victims, victims of London terrorist attacks in July 2005, and the families of British soldiers killed in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NOTW staffers are also accused of bribing police officials and obstructing the subsequent investigation into these misdoings. The scandal has grown rapidly and threatens to touch the highest levels of government. Last week Andy Coulson, a former editor of the NOTW, who also served as a spokesman for Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, was arrested in connection with the scandal.

The scandal also derailed News Corp.'s planned acquisition of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, previously considered virtually a done deal, with remarkable speed. On Wednesday News Corp. said it would withdraw its bid for BSkyB after News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch, the head of the company's U.K. newspaper division, were subjected to fierce criticism in Parliamentary hearings.

Prime Minister Cameron, eager to distance himself from the controversy, announced that a special inquiry by respected judges will be launched to address the scandal, including who at News Corp. knew what, and when.