The FBI's Paranoia And Incompetence Threatens Free Speech
from the too-much-to-ask-an-investigative-agency-to-do-any-investigating dept
The FBI's paranoia and bumbling ineptitude will make criminals of us all.
The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev is underway and the government's witness -- FBI special agent Steven Kimball -- pinpointed a background photo's location as one place only to have the defense point out it was actually a completely different location.
“You said the picture [that forms the background of the second account] was a picture of Mecca,” said Conrad, towards the end of a lengthy and tense cross-examination.It got worse from there. Much worse. The government cherry-picked a number of posts from Tsarnaev's social media accounts in an attempt to portray him as a violence-prone radical. The problem was that no one involved in this "investigative" process actually performed anything approaching an investigation.
“Yes, to the best of my knowledge,” answered Kimball.
“Did you bother to look at a picture of Mecca?” Conrad shot back.
“No.”
“Would it surprise you to learn that it is a picture of Grozny?”
The picture on the account is not of Mecca – the FBI had misidentified it. It is in fact a picture of the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny.
[P]erhaps the most damning tweet of all those shown by the prosecution... read, in Cyrillic: “I shall die young.”The defense discovered through cross-examination that Agent Kimball had simply been fed a list of supposedly-damning social media posts by the prosecution team. And between the prosecutors and the FBI, apparently not a single person could be bothered to perform a minimum of due diligence. Instead, their carefully composed collage, "Tsarnaev the Radicalized," disintegrated under the minimal weight of the defense's questioning.
[I]t became clear through Conrad’s questioning that Kimball had made little effort to discover the context of the tweets; he admitted at one point that he had not even clicked on some of the links they contained. One of the links was to the Russian pop song that contained the “I shall die young” lyric.
Other posts shown by Kimball yesterday turned out to be jokes from the Comedy Central television show Tosh.o, or sketch comedy duo Key and Peele.
At one point, Kimball misidentified a quote as having been made by the radical al -Qaida-affiliated cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. It was actually a quote from the Qu’ran.
Now, think of what this means for anyone who might post song lyrics, quotes from books or anything else that might catch an investigator's eye. Turns out that even having "nothing to hide" is still plently reason to fear.
Outside of the Boston bombing trial we have reason to be troubled by law enforcement’s approach to online speech. In the wake of the shooting of two NYPD officers by a lone gunman who had posted on Instagram his plan to “put wings on pigs,” a number of individuals were arrested for posting allegedly threatening anti-police sentiments online. The logic is flawed: Just because a cop killer did post anti-police messages does not mean every similar social media post should be treated as a precursor to a cop killing. Such an approach problematically criminalizes speech, which, even if ostensibly violent, should be protected.When it comes to connecting the dots after the fact, even innocuous social media postings can take on a menacing appearance when viewed by investigators looking to paint someone as threatening and dangerous. The government already does this -- turning rap lyrics into crimes in and of themselves and pursuing prosecution for verbalizing depraved and violent thoughts.
In its rush to turn Tsarnaev into a more monstrous person than he already appears to be, the FBI's investigators made this part of its investigation a mere formality -- and proved itself to be the home of incredibly dangerous fools.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: boston marathon bombing, dzhokar tsarnaev, fbi, free speech, rap lyrics, social media, steven kimball
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
-Cardinal Richelieu
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
/rolleyes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pure laziness
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pure laziness
Their actual use of technology is pretty poor, they cannot even use Google to identify the location of a picture.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Pure laziness
When they've got that through their thick skulls perhaps we'll get some actual justice instead of, "But we all know he's guilty so just hang him, already!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's All Google's Fault!
If Google would have come forward to help the FBI, at Google's own expense, and without being asked by the FBI, then this would not have happened.
Something must be done. Terrorists. Etc.
:-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pure laziness
Not even that. In all the time they had it, and all the text processing juju the TLAs have, none of it mentioned that quote was from the Koran?
They try to handwave incompetence, and they're not Jedi.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is really, really bad news for global mass surveillance
It needs to get filtered through capable humans. That means that all that spionage is only useful for addressing English-speaking terrorists from an American background as long as the parties looking through the material are primarily CIA and NSA.
That's not really overly relevant for terrorist prevention, it is more for domestic crime solving.
But arguing around the Constitution is rather less workable when talking about domestic mass surveillance.
There is no real alternative to relying on foreign intelligence cooperation. And the KGB (or what it is currently called) did explicitly warn the CIA about the Tsarnaev brothers. But why bother with that if one has so much better tools available than the Russian hicks?
So we get a full demonstration here that mass intelligence gathering does not work. The really embarrassing thing is that the FBI could not even afford consulting with "specialists", namely people able to recognize the cultural context of statements, in the aftermath of catching a suspect. If they don't even have enough experts to spare any for prosecution, that does not look all that bright for prevention at all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This is really, really bad news for global mass surveillance
The xenophobic mentality of the alphabet soup agencies is an actual hindrance in hiring/recruiting the people with these skills. They 'know' for example you can't trust someone who has read the Koran. Heaven forbid you went to one of those terrorist generators to study the culture.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: This is really, really bad news for global mass surveillance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This is really, really bad news for global mass surveillance
[Sad But True]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
The point here is surely to prove that he was responsible for the bombing.
That should be a matter of witness statements and forensic evidence surrounding the event itself.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
He already admitted he did it (his defence attorney said in court that he did it). They have air time to fill and media to whip up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
That the families suffer as a result of the crime committed against the victim is in fact relevant to the case, not just an opportunity to whip up a jury.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
and I agree.
If they really want to fight radicalisation it has to be done in the sphere of ideas - by more speech - not by curtailing speech.
However I suspect that they don't really want to do it - because it is far too useful as an excuse for doing the things that they really want to do anyway.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
First the “yes” part: During the guilt phase of this trial, the government carries the burden of proving Mr Tsarnaev's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
I have been following the trial closely, and I will tell you that not only does the government seem likely to meet their burden of proof, but that Mr Tsarnaev's defense team is not really contesting the issue. In short, the jury is gonna find the defendant guilty. With good reason.
So, now the “no” part: The government is asking for the death penalty. So, there will be a second, penalty phase to this trial. All the maneuvering during the guilt phase of this trial is just preparation for the real action during the penalty phase.
That's why the government is already trying to show that Mr Tsarnaev is irredeemable, incorrigible.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
Well they are trying to prove something that is hard to even define - so no wonder they are having trouble.
The government is asking for the death penalty.
The government is trying to prove that they are no better than him.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Surely they are trying to prove the wrong thing!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And yet they have the chutzpah to say they never saw it coming. The FBI's level of incompetance is so unbelievable that it would almost seem like the FBI actually wanted that bombing to happen. (such terrorist acts would, of course, result in a bigger budget and better 'job security' for the FBI)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Well, Kimball had a huge problem here. If he googled the quote in order to check it then he would be seen to be searching for "radical" extremist material. And he knows that happens to people who do that.
Chilling effects ripple everywhere.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fools? I try everyday not to fall into the conspiracy lunacy field but it's getting increasingly more difficult. Are they really fools or this is just them testing the waters to see where they need to erode next to get people in jail based solely on their say so in the future? I think we are the fools now, thinking there is any protection from our increasingly totalitarian Governments - note the plural, the US is not alone in the West.
We are fast approaching Orwell. And many people are helping with their prudishness and entitlement to not seeing what they don't agree with. By the time they disagree it will be too late.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just like "red light cameras" & drone murders,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Just like "red light cameras" & drone murders,
That way government employees can get back to what it important*.
Brain implants would be greatly helpful. Detect thought crime. Automatically charge your credit card whenever you hear anything copyrighted. Short of that, at least require TVs to be 'smart' TVs with cameras and audio pickups in every home to help detect crimes.
* watching pr0n on the taxpayer's backs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In other words, I think that our federal government has a serious case of tyranny in the following two ways.
1) The gov't used a terrible and tragic act of terrorism to create a system that allows for the persecution, and prosecution of others for its own sake, just like a monarch.
It does not matter how guilty (Tsarnaev) or innocent (Snowden) they are, what they want to do is being to point the finger without having to explain it except in the broadest most convenient terms.
2) Based on my point above, and their behavior the past decade I can only conclude that out of the Monarchs the feds have chosen to emulate, they've gone with Joffrey Baratheon, first of His Name.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- D Vader
Seems like the Terror in this case was poorly constructed. It could be completely obliterated by a pair of well-aimed proton torpedoes. Looks like they needed to do a little more research...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
That's photon torpedoes, btw.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Clarification
Pursuant to the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment, the defense gets to attack the prosecution—via the vessel of the FBI agent—for introducing the tweets.
Basically, it looks like the prosecution pulled an FBI agent "off the street" and put him on the stand just to submit these tweets with the hope of making Tsarnaev look bad...but they didn't prep the FBI officer very well. Then when the defense got its turn to attack, what we have is a situation where a very well-prepared defense is up against a very poorly prepared FBI agent. Majority of the blame probably falls on the prosecution, not the agent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Clarification
I don't think anyone is blaming the agent specifically for this, but the FBI. Which, in my opinion, is the correct entity to blame.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Clarification
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You've Always Suspected It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: You've Always Suspected It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
We are already all criminals
http://www.forbes.com/sites/booked/2010/07/16/booked-harvey-silverglate-on-three-felonies-a-day/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Time to vet the vetters
Here is Kimball, hard at work, in his former job.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Donk-Donk.
It's as inconceivable as someone breaking into the White House.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The real reasons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ
The (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew
Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY
Brezinski at a press conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY
The real news:
http://therealnews.com/t2/
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalit arianism/dp/069114589X/
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpow er/dp/1608463656/
http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/
Lo ok at the following graphs:
IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html And then...
WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap
http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6
https://www.youtub e.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM
Free markets?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349
Free trade?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju06F3Os64
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/
"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.
In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."
Important history:
http://williamblum.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4#t=2551
America in the Technetronic Age 1968
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://64.62.200.70/PERIODICAL/PDF/Encounter-1968jan/18-29/&c hrome=true
search document for 'control' to help find.
Page 21 "At the same time, the capacity to assert social and political control over the individual will vastly increase. As I have already noted, it will soon be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and to maintain up-to-date, complete files, containing even most personal information about the health or personal behaviour of the citizen, in addition to more customary data. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."
"Moreover, the rapid pace of change will put a premium on anticipating events and planning for them. Power will gravitate into the hands of those who control the information, and can correlate it most rapidly."
http://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Ages-Americas-Technetronic/dp/0313234981
They want to try and maintain social and political control during this period of increasing global change.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Keystone
Does --not so-- special agent Kimball only get one bullet for his gun too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Keystone
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]