FBI created fake Seattle Times Web page to nab bomb-threat suspect

[Disir]

The FBI in Seattle created a fake news story on a bogus Seattle Times web page to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Lacey’s Timberline High School in 2007, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco.

The deception was publicized Monday when Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., revealed it on Twitter.

In an interview, Soghoian called the incident “outrageous” and said the practice could result in “significant collateral damage to the public trust” if law enforcement begins co-opting the media for its purposes.

The EFF documents reveal that the FBI dummied up a story with an Associated Press byline about the Thurston County bomb threats with an email link “in the style of The Seattle Times,” including details about subscriber and advertiser information.

The link was sent to the suspect’s MySpace account. When the suspect clicked on the link, the hidden FBI software sent his location and Internet Protocol information to the agents. A juvenile suspect was identified and arrested June 14.

The revelation brought a sharp response from the newspaper.

FBI created fake Seattle Times Web page to nab bomb-threat suspect Local News The Seattle Times

So, I have to ask.............and what do you think of this revelation?

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

Go FBI !!!

 

[Rikurzhen]

The FBI in Seattle created a fake news story on a bogus Seattle Times web page to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Lacey’s Timberline High School in 2007, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco.

The deception was publicized Monday when Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., revealed it on Twitter.

In an interview, Soghoian called the incident “outrageous” and said the practice could result in “significant collateral damage to the public trust” if law enforcement begins co-opting the media for its purposes.

The EFF documents reveal that the FBI dummied up a story with an Associated Press byline about the Thurston County bomb threats with an email link “in the style of The Seattle Times,” including details about subscriber and advertiser information.

The link was sent to the suspect’s MySpace account. When the suspect clicked on the link, the hidden FBI software sent his location and Internet Protocol information to the agents. A juvenile suspect was identified and arrested June 14.

The revelation brought a sharp response from the newspaper.

FBI created fake Seattle Times Web page to nab bomb-threat suspect Local News The Seattle Times

So, I have to ask.............and what do you think of this revelation?

While I would normally side with the critics this time they're out of line. There is no "“significant collateral damage to the public trust” if law enforcement begins co-opting the media for its purposes." The ONLY person who saw that link was the suspect.

This tactic is the equivalent of a single man propositioning a married woman. No harm has come to her reputation due to the private nature of the proposition that the man made to her. Her virtue is intact. The public was not privy to the proposition he made to her.

 

[SmarterThanTheAverageBear]

I've no problem with this. And by the way, LEAs already "co opt media" in many ways, such as Amber Alerts and stuff of that nature.

 

[whitehall]

I think they might have used the same technology on CBS reporter Sharyl Attkinsson. Who knows what the FBI is up to during the Obama administration?