FBI forges story on fake Seattle Times site to nab suspect

Roger Yu | USA TODAY

The FBI forged a news story on a fake Seattle Times web page in an effort to nab a suspect who made bomb threats at a local high school in 2007.

Citing documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and revelations on Twtter by a staffer at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Seattle Times reported Tuesday that the fake story – carrying an Associated Press byline but published on what looks like a Seattle Times web page – was used to entice the suspect into clicking an accompanying link.

The link, which planted tracking software on the suspect's computer, carried details about subscriber and advertiser information, the Seattle Times report said. After the juvenile suspect clicked the link on his MySpace account, the FBI was able to locate and subsequently arrest him. He pleaded guilty to making bomb threats at Timberline High School, where he was a student.

"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," Seattle Times Editor Kathy Best told her own paper. "Not only does that cross a line, it erases it," she said.

The AP also condemned the FBI's move. "We are extremely concerned and find it unacceptable that the FBI misappropriated the name of The Associated Press and published a false story attributed to AP," AP spokesman Paul Colford said in a statement. "This ploy violated AP's name and undermined AP's credibility."

Christopher Soghoian, the ACLU technologist who revealed the unclassified documents on Twitter, also tweeted that "the FBI impersonating the press is just as irresponsible as the CIA running fake immunization programs."

"I give it two weeks, tops, before a Member of Congress writes a letter to the FBI demanding answers re: the Seattle Times impersonation," he wrote.

Frank Montoya Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI in Seattle, told the Seattle Times that the technique worked. "We identified a specific subject of an investigation and used a technique that we deemed would be effective in preventing a possible act of violence in a school setting," he said. "Use of that type of technique happens in very rare circumstances and only when there is sufficient reason to believe it could be successful in resolving a threat."

The FBI's use of its spyware capability in the case was first reported by Wired.com in July, 2007. The story, citing an FBI affidavit, said "the FBI adopts techniques more common to online criminals."