The Associated Press ('AP') Sues FBI | FBI Spoofing AP News Story & Hacking Targets

Reporters Committee, AP sue for records about FBI's impersonation of journalists Press Release | August 27, 2015 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Associated Press are asking the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. to require the Justice Department and the FBI to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and release records regarding the FBI's practice of impersonating members of the news media. The lawsuit argues that AP and the Reporters Committee “are statutorily entitled to disclosure of these records, which they seek so that they may inform the public about the nature and extent of the FBI’s impersonation of journalists and news organizations. Defendants have improperly withheld the records requested by Plaintiffs in violation of the law and in opposition to the public’s strong interest in obtaining information regarding a law enforcement practice that undermines both the credibility and independence of the news media.” The lawsuit stems from an FBI operation in 2007, during which agents created and published a fake AP news story in order to trick a criminal suspect into downloading surveillance software onto his computer, software that enabled the Bureau to track the suspect's location. When the FBI’s impersonation of the AP came to light in October of 2014, the Reporters Committee and 25 news organizations immediately sent a letter to the attorney general and FBI director calling it "unacceptable." AP also wrote to the attorney general protesting the FBI’s use of a fabricated AP news story "in the strongest possible terms." Reporters from AP and attorneys from the Reporters Committee submitted detailed FOIA requests to the FBI seeking information about this and any other program in which agents posed as journalists or in which false news articles were used to deliver tracking or other surveillance software. None of the requested records have been released. "We cannot overstate how damaging it is for federal agents to pose as journalists," said Reporters Committee Litigation Director Katie Townsend. “This practice undermines the credibility of the independent news media, and should not be tolerated. Yet while the public clearly has a strong, compelling interest in knowing more about the FBI’s use of this tactic, the FBI seems determined to withhold that information. We have been left with no choice but to look to the court for relief." [...] SOURCE http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-committee-ap-sue-records-about-fbis-impersonation-journalists ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT I don't know how much credibility what they call the 'independent' news media actually has, given its corporate ownership and establishment agenda bias, as well as its documented historical readiness to serve the government and corporate interests. However, that the FBI is misrepresenting itself as news organisations is nonetheless a problem. That information sought via FOI requests is being denied, indicates what a sham 'democracy' is in America, and demonstrates how totalitarian the American authorities really are - despite the propaganda about exporting democracy to 'save the world'. ꕤ

MHI7 - Australian Sock Puppet Tony Abbott Resorts to Grandstanding & Hysteria

ABC News Go Article
ABC News, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023

Australian PM Lashes out at Russia Over Shot Plane
CANBERRA, Australia — Jul 18, 2014, 3:54 AM ET
Associated Press

An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday demanded an independent inquiry into the downing of a Malaysian jetliner and said Russia's response to what he called a crime was "deeply, deeply unsatisfactory."

Abbott criticized Russia's Ambassador to Australia Vladimir Morozov, who met earlier Friday with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

According to Abbott, the ambassador's initial response was to blame Ukraine for Thursday's downing of the Malaysia Airlines aircraft, which killed all 298 aboard, including 28 Australians.

The cause of Thursday's crash was not immediately clear but the area has seen heavy fighting recently between government troops and pro-Russia separatists, with the rebels bragging about shooting down two Ukrainian military jets in the region Wednesday, just a day earlier. U.S. intelligence officials believe the Malaysian plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Abbott told reporters that the idea that Russia can somehow say that none of this has anything to do with them because it happened in Ukrainian airspace "frankly does not stand up to any serious scrutiny." [He's a sock puppet.]

"The initial response of the Russian ambassador was to blame Ukraine for this and I have to say that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory," he said. "I want to say to the Australian people that as far as I am concerned, when you have a situation where Russian-backed rebels appear to have killed Australians using it may well turn out to be Russian-supplied heavy weaponry, Australia takes a very dim view indeed and we want the fullest possible investigation."

["I have to say" ... LOL ... says it all.

Let's grandstand because Russia didn't provide the response that Tony Abbott's US buddies knew they wouldn't get?  Pathetic grandstanding.  Just for the sake of propaganda. 

Has he no respect for the dead?  Fancy using the deceased for political advantage!
  
As if he seriously expected anything other than the response he got from Russia.]

Abbott said "it's very important that we don't allow Russia to prevent an absolutely comprehensive investigation so that we can find out exactly what happened here." [No indication whatsoever that Russia would or *could* prevent an investigation -- so this is more grandstanding by Abbott, & more besmirching of Russia before the public.  Remember, there's got to be a 'bad guy'.]

"This is not an accident, it's a crime," he said. "And criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they've done. So there has to be a full, impartial international investigation and Russia should certainly not be allowed to stand in the way of that." [TONY ABBOT'S AN IDIOT.  HE WOULDN'T KNOW IF HIS ASS WAS ON FIRE.  HE'S A GRANDSTANDING SOCK PUPPET FOR THE U.S.]

Asked why he was using harsher language than other world leaders in relation to Russia's potential culpability, Abbott replied: "This aircraft didn't come down through accident — it was shot down. It did not crash, it was downed ... over territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels."  [TONY ABBOTT'S BEEN TALKING TO BIDEN.  LOL.]

SOURCE - ABC News - here.

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Daily Mail Article (UK)

Exactly article as ABC Go. 

SOURCE - Daily Mail - here.

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COMMENT

Maybe I'm a cynic, but it sure looks like Abbott is using this tragedy to get some mileage either for himself or for his US masters, grandstanding about demands for an independent enquiry and so on, when Obama has already announced that an independent enquiry will be conducted etc.

Daily Mail is also running the same story as the ABC Go (Disney owned) outlet, so I took a double-take for two reasons:

1)  I couldn't believe the about-face hysteria on Abbotts part.

2)  I discovered that the two whining Abbott articles were exact articles.

More on that later.

What's the bet if the flight in question was the US downed Iran Flight 655, Abbott wouldn't be milking the media opportunity to display his 'outraged' theatrical performance at the US.

Anyway, I'm not convinced by Abbott's melodramatics and I think he ought to carry himself with a bit more dignity than he's shown.