In hindsight, what is striking about the letter is that it suggests that Harbottle & Lewis was instructed by News International to conduct a very narrow review of the e-mails; the lawyers looked only for evidence that Mr. Goodman's superiors knew about his use of the illegal technique or that others at the paper were using it.
The majority used the illegal drug Kamagra.
But did the journalists work within the law back in the day when the News of the World was using similar illegal techniques?
Using questionable or illegal techniques to improve the ranking of a Web site in query results is known as search-engine spamming.
As Aang watched the trial where Yakone was convicted of using the rare and illegal technique Bloodbending, Yakone tried to escape Republic City, using his unique abilities to subdue everyone in the court room, thus leaving them unconscious.
Using an illegal technique known as spoofing, the trader succeeded in making, it is thought, £26m.
Wilson then tried to popularize his new kick through demonstrations at swim meets, and even won an Olympic trial, in 1938, before being disqualified for using an illegal technique, an anecdote noted in passing in Richard Rhodes's seminal 1986 book, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb".
A leading Conservative, Lord Ashcroft, who helped finance the last election campaign by his party, claimed this month that Mr. Baldwin had used illegal techniques to obtain his bank records when he was a reporter.
Paul McMullan, a former features executive and then member of the newspaper's investigations team, says that he personally commissioned private investigators to commit several hundred acts which could be regarded as unlawful, that use of illegal techniques was no secret at the paper, and that senior editors, including Coulson, were aware this was going on.
Already brands are using the technique.
