Associated Press to FBI: Stop Pretending to Be Us

In 2007, an FBI agent pretended
to be a journalist from the Associated Press to trick an anonymous
suspect into clicking on an e-mail link that installed malware to
track the guy. This was all done to catch a guy who launched
cyberattacks and sent in bomb threats to a Seattle high school.

The Associated Press is not happy. They’ve already had to deal
with the Department of Justice quietly
seizing their phone records in order to track down a leaker,
which obviously serves (possibly deliberately) to scare away other
potential federal leakers or whistleblowers. Now they have to worry
that they’ll be unable to interact with anybody engaged in any sort
of sketchy behavior if they think they’re actually corresponding
with a federal agent.

The New York Times
took note of this behavior, as well as another incident where
the FBI, unable to get a warrant to search Las Vegas hotel rooms to
investigate possible illegal gambling, shut down their targets’
Internet and then posed as repairmen in order to gain access. In an
editorial, the Times worried that these deceptive methods
would lead to wider constitutional abuses.

FBI Director James Comey responded that their Associated Press
impersonation was completely legal, and besides, they didn’t really
publish an actual story anywhere posing as the press. Only their
suspect interacted with the fake reporter. But even though it was
completely legal then, maybe there would be more oversight now,

Comey admits:

That technique was proper and appropriate under Justice
Department and F.B.I. guidelines at the time. Today, the use of
such an unusual technique would probably require higher level
approvals than in 2007, but it would still be lawful and, in a rare
case, appropriate.

So it was legal at the time, even though we’ve now put in more
steps before they can do this, so what’s everybody worried
about?

The Associated Press and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press is not having it. They’ve sent a letter to the Department
of Justice demanding they
stop impersonating the media. Via CNN:

“The utilization of news media as a cover for delivery of
electronic surveillance software is unacceptable. This practice
endangers the media’s credibility and creates the appearance that
it is not independent of the government,” it said.

“It undermines media organizations’ ability to independently
report on law enforcement. It lends itself to the appearance that
media organizations are compelled to speak on behalf of the
government.” …

“The FBI may have intended this false story as a trap for only
one person. However, the individual could easily have reposted this
story to social networks, distributing to thousands of people,
under our name, what was essentially a piece of government
disinformation.”