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

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Times

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.

... “We are outraged that the FBI, with the apparent assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, misappropriated the name of The Seattle Times to secretly install spyware on the computer of a crime suspect,” said Seattle Times Editor Kathy Best. “Not only does that cross a line, it erases it,” she said.

Read more: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024888170_fbinewspaper1xml.html

[Historic NY]

1. Funny its a tactic used many times over the years.....

during the world wars and during the cold war and yes in criminal investigations. The biggest difference is its not in print media.

[mrdmk]

2. This is a time when cooperation would have been prudent instead of a calvalier attitude of

we are law enforcement, we are always right, we get to do what we want when we want.

Getting a warrant was a CYA move. I am sure getting to the Website was only available to the direct link. To use the name of a know company without notification of any sorts is an extreme measure. The Seattle Times has every right to how their name is used.