The Information Commissioner's office said Thursday that in 2006, it handled police evidence that 31 journalists from the News of the World and its sister paper, The Sun, had bought and sold illegally obtained personal information.

Assistant Information Commissioner Mick Gorrill said the evidence was of "blagging," or obtaining information through misrepresentation.

Adrian Monck, head of the journalism program at London's City University, said many media-watchers believed the Goodman story "was not an isolated, one-off case."

"For years, the stock-in-trade of tabloid journalists has been the ability to get this kind of secret information," he said.

The case also raises questions for David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative Party. The News of the World's editor at the time of the Goodman case was Andy Coulson, now Cameron's director of communications. He resigned from his newspaper post after Goodman was sentenced, but said he had no knowledge of the hacking.

Cameron said he had given Coulson a "second chance" by hiring him after he left the News of the World.

"As director of communications for the Conservatives, he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times," Cameron said Thursday.