The Associated Press sued the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday over the FBI’s failure to provide public records related to the creation of a fake news story used to plant surveillance software on a suspect’s computer. AP joined with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. (The Associated Press / The Big Story)
The lawsuit stems from an incident in 2007, when an FBI officer investigating bomb threats pretended to be an AP reporter and asked a suspect if he would look over a draft of an article about the threats to be sure he was described accurately. When clicked, the link to the fake news story allowed the FBI to deploy “court-authorized tools” to find the suspect. (Poynter / MediaWire)