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Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet 169

Posted by Soulskill from the or-think-they-do dept.
HughPickens.com writes: Josephine Wolff reports at The Atlantic that Secret Service Internet Threat Desk is a group of agents tasked with identifying and assessing online threats to the president and his family. The first part of this mission — finding threats — is in many ways made easier by the Internet: all you have to do is search! Pulling up every tweet which uses the words "Obama" and "assassinate" takes mere seconds, and the Secret Service has tried to make it easier for people to draw threats to its attention by setting up its own Twitter handle, @secretservice, for users to report threatening messages to. The difficulty is trying to figure out which ones should be taken seriously.

The Secret Service categorizes all threats, online and offline alike, into one of three categories. Class 3 threats are considered the most serious, and require agents to interview the individual who issued the threat and any acquaintances to determine whether that person really has the capability to carry out the threat. Class 2 threats are considered to be serious but issued by people incapable of actually follow up on their intentions, either because they are in jail or located at a great distance from the president. And Class 1 threats are those that may seem serious at first, but are determined not to be. The overall number of threats directed at the first family that require investigation has stayed relatively steady at about 10 per day — except for the period when Obama was first elected, when the Secret Service had to follow up on roughly 50 threats per day. "That includes threats on Twitter," says Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service. "It makes no difference to [the Secret Service] how a threat is communicated. They can't take that chance of assuming that because it's on Twitter it's less serious."
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Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet More

Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet

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  • First, they came for the assassins... (Score:3, Funny)

    by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @01:58PM (#50176463) Journal

    But I wasn't an assassin, I swear!

    • I know.

      But now you're tagged as one.

      • Maybe that's why this strange van showed up at my house after a made a tweet about how I planned to assassinate Obama's character.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rob Riggs ( 6418 )

          ...about how I planned to assassinate Obama's character.

          Are you talking about his D&D character, ArmoredDragon?

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *

          Maybe that's why this strange van showed up at my house after a made a tweet about how I planned to assassinate Obama's character.

          You can't assassinate that which doesn't exist.

          • Recession: Your neighbor's out of a job. Depression: You're out of a job. Recovery: 0bama's out of a job..

            Can't fix the problem by treating the symptom. The fiscal problem dates all the way back to 1944 when we adopted a ponzi scheme as a financial system that was created by people retaliating over the declaration of independence, which was an act of treason against Great Britain who was trading royalty with Germany at that time.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          That strange I did a search on Obama and every reasonable synonym of the word assassinate as well as the word itself and I got a whole lot more about Obama ordering the same of a whole bunch of people. Are they saying they secret service will be arresting Obama any day now?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      yeah but 10 seconds with you phone and BOOM one year in federal jail.

      kinda stupid. kinda mega stupid. he's a public figure anyways.

      and further than that they would need to put in extradition requests for half of Iran and ISIS

  • Is there a request list? Can they make 4chan a priority? Please?

    • Secret Service: What's with all these cats? Oh gawd, ouch, my eyes! My eyes! Can't unsee...

  • Pulling up every tweet which uses the words "Obama" and "assassinate" takes mere seconds (...) The difficulty is trying to figure out which ones should be taken seriously.

    I'm going to hazard the guess that it's not the ones on Twitter.

    • Pulling up every tweet which uses the words "Obama" and "assassinate" takes mere seconds (...) The difficulty is trying to figure out which ones should be taken seriously.

      I'm going to hazard the guess that it's not the ones on Twitter.

      Well, if they're staking out the ugliest corners of the Internet, then you're surely on a list now!

    • Re:Really so hard? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Friday July 24, 2015 @03:27PM (#50177115) Homepage Journal
      Amazingly enough, people that go through with these mass shootings post their plans to social media more often than not. It sounds crazy, but you have to be a little crazy to want to do shoot up a kindergarten or assassinate the president in the first place. The problem is of course the noise level. We had the same problem after Columbine when suddenly all of those teenagers weren't just sullen outcasts, they were potential madmen. Correlation is not causation.

    • Pulling up every tweet which uses

      I'm going to hazard a guess and say it IS Twitter. lol

  • Pfft. The Secret Service is antiquated for protecting the president. Maybe useful for protecting the family, but Presidents have known for awhile that the best way to not get assassinated is to have a total buffoon as the Vice President. I mean what crazy Liberal would shoot GWB knowing that Dick Cheney would take over? No one is going to shoot Obama and end up with crazy uncle Biden in the oval office! You can go back probably till Reagan and it holds true. And how many assassination attempts have been mad

    • Re:Presidential Protection (Score:5, Informative)

      by twotacocombo ( 1529393 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @02:13PM (#50176563)

      And how many assassination attempts have been made on recent presidents? Zero.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots

      Obama's on the list. So is Dubya. And Clinton. And Bush Sr. And Reagan, obviously. And Carter. On and on.

      Just because nobody has recently pulled something as high profile as a Hinckley doesn't mean there haven't been attempts.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *

        Obama's on the list. So is Dubya. And Clinton. And Bush Sr. And Reagan, obviously. And Carter. On and on.

        One of the things that caused a lack of sleep for Jefferson was the long line of people at his door (at the original Whitehouse). Most of them wanted jobs or handouts; he didn't mind the ones who actually came to him with policy concerns.

        Then again, his government was mostly limited and operating by the rule-of-law, so not too many people felt he ought to be murdered.

        • Then again, his government was mostly limited and operating by the rule-of-law, so not too many white people felt he ought to be murdered.

          FTFY

          • why you gotta go there??? its off topic

            • why you gotta go there??? its off topic

              So you think Thomas Jefferson's slaves were all just thrilled about being indentured workers? You don't think that maybe one or two of them might have been a little put out about the whole "I own you and you and your children will work for free for me forever" stuff?

              I doubt all of them got the Sally Hemings treatment.

              • you brought it up simply to cause a flame war though. it has nothing to do with the point being made.

                • you brought it up simply to cause a flame war though. it has nothing to do with the point being made.

                  Let me take you through it step by step:

                  The "point being made" was,

                  One of the things that caused a lack of sleep for Jefferson was the long line of people at his door (at the original Whitehouse). Most of them wanted jobs or handouts; he didn't mind the ones who actually came to him with policy concerns.

                  Then again, his government was mostly limited and operating by the rule-of-law, so not too many people fel

      • gotta grease the squeaky, er.. *cough* Yeah, and the people who made stairways, paved tarmacs, and cheap podiums definitely had it in for Ford.

    • Attempts yes... There has been multiple attempts...

      What hasn't happened is somebody actually getting caught in the actual act..

  • ...is that people still make threats using a durable medium (ie, not simply mouthing-off without leaving a record) when they actually want to carry-out such threats. It also amazes me when people that have absolutely no idea how communications systems work use them for illegal activities where their lack of knowledge means that they don't have a clue how their communications could be intercepted.

  • Well, now you've done it. You've attracted attention from the Secretive Service by using the words "Obama" and "assassinate".

    Wait, I used them . . . !

    • Well, now you've done it. You've attracted attention from the Secretive Service by using the words "Obama" and "assassinate".

      Wait, I used them . . . !

      I don't think you should have done that.

  • They do so much more! (Score:5, Informative)

    by devloop ( 983641 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @02:14PM (#50176571)
    SS agents are also versed in the arts of:

    Deflecting possible Colombian hooker attacks on the president.
    Drunk driving and crashing cars into WH's barriers and then destroying video evidence.
    Sexually harassing female staff.
    Committing arm burglary with their state issued 357 caliber guns.
    Being totally ineffective at stopping mentally disturbed individuals to fence jump into the WH's lawn.
    Letting armed ex felons ride the same elevator with the POTUS.

    But yeah, by all means, focus your efforts on Twitter.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by TheCarp ( 96830 )

      > Deflecting possible Colombian hooker attacks on the president.

      I hear this is quite a rigorous training course.

      • > Deflecting possible Colombian hooker attacks on the president.

        I hear this is quite a rigorous training course.

        Just be sure to negotiate the fees and pay in advance, leaving your credit cards in the hands of others while taking the course. Be sure to tip well...

    • Re:They do so much more! (Score:4, Informative)

      by jklovanc ( 1603149 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @03:05PM (#50176959)

      Being totally ineffective at stopping mentally disturbed individuals to fence jump into the WH's lawn.

      The president was on the other side of the building boarding a helicopter and in no danger. The fence jumper was in view of at least one agent at all times. He was stopped long before he encountered any non-security personnel. Their other option was to shoot him when he jumped the fence and then the headline would have been "Secret Service Murders Mentally Ill Veteran". Yes, he should not have gotten into the building but he was stopped soon after. The layered security worked.

      Letting armed ex felons ride the same elevator with the POTUS.

      If you are talking about this [washingtonpost.com] you should know a few points.
      1. While he had been arrested he was not convicted.
      2. We do not know what the arrest was for. It could have been something non-violent.
      3. He was a security guard for the CDC where the POTUS was visiting. He had therefore gone through the security screening of at least the CDC.
      4. He only came to the attention of the Secret Service because he would not stop photographing the POTUS when asked.
      This guy was in no way a threat

      BTW, one can not be an ex-felon unless pardoned.

    • Committing arm burglary with their state issued 357 caliber guns.

      I understand they're only taking left arms. Probably because there are several major league baseball teams looking for strong left arms.

    • The columbian hooker story was nothing more than a huge distraction story to divert attention from a (not very US-ftiendly) south american summit that was happening at the time. Seriously, the DEA cooperates with criminals to murder imnocent people in these countries, but the media only flips its lid when hired goons are fucking hookers? Give me a break

  • >> Ugliest Corners of the Internet...online threats to the president and his family

    How is this uglier than child prostitution, the rapid increase of murder in inner cities, or...?

    I get that some level of executive security is probably a good thing, but does the Secret Service really need 1,500 people on staff?

    • >> Ugliest Corners of the Internet...online threats to the president and his family

      How is this uglier than child prostitution, the rapid increase of murder in inner cities, or...?

      I get that some level of executive security is probably a good thing, but does the Secret Service really need 1,500 people on staff?

      It's not so much that it's *worse* than those things. It's certainly not worth than sex trafficking, for example, where you get these kids raped fifteen times a day. (Read "River of Innocents" to learn more, for example, or Kevin Bales' or Victor Malarek's books).

      Fighting over what's "worst" or "ugliest" or so on is like fights over whose genocide is worse, or who has the most messed up family. At the end of the day it's pretty silly and it's usually a waste of time because you could be trying to deal wi

    • the rapid increase of murder in inner cities, or...?

      What "rapid increase of murder"??

      Murder has been on the decline for decades. Hell, it's half what it was when I was in high school...

    • the secret service does a lot more than The Protection Detail.

      In fact if over 10K in cash shows up during an investigation some subset will drop EVERYTHING and join in said investigation.

      Their Original Job was Anti Counterfeiting.

      so if say a hundred million in cash showed up somewhere they would stick the POTUS "In a closet" and sort out that.

      The Hacker Crackdown is a very fun book to read (and is LEGAL to just download!!)

      so if some "CandyFarm" had a bunch of cash stored it would be a very very very bad th

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by PopeRatzo ( 965947 )

      I get that some level of executive security is probably a good thing, but does the Secret Service really need 1,500 people on staff?

      The Secret Service protects more than the President. Plus, they're responsible for enforcing counterfeiting laws, which probably keeps them kind of busy, because counterfeiting has to be one of the most tempting crimes of all.

      The reason this story highlights Obama is because he's got that pesky problem with his skin color that makes him a target for domestic terrorists like th

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Altrag ( 195300 )

      Its called word play and sensationalism.

      Looking in the "ugliest corners" doesn't necessarily mean you're looking for the ugliest acts -- just that you have to be in the same vicinity of them.

      The Twitter reference is just to garner eyeballs. I mean I'm sure they ARE watching Twitter (while most grandstanders are too stupid to follow through with their threats, some may actually have the capability and decide to make the attempt so you can't just ignore them even if the S/N ratio is pretty low.)

      Chances are a

  • Twitter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @02:22PM (#50176641)
    I'd almost immediately consider anyone making a threat on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media site to be among the least credible threats. Anyone stupid enough to blab about those plans in public is too much of an idiot to get anywhere close to successfully accomplishing such a thing.

    The more credible threats are the ones posted on message boards or in chat rooms or other small corners of the internet where like-minded folk gather. Most of what you find there will still be people bouncing words and ideas around their little echo chamber, but a few might be crazy enough to try. Even then, I'd be far more concerned with the people who makes threats about shooting up a mall or blowing up a school as that's a far more attainable goal on a much softer target.

    Any threat worth devoting resources to stopping is likely to be using encryption or avoiding the internet as much as possible and trying not to draw attention to themselves.

    A better system would be to look at the online history and behavior of any individuals who have committed acts of terrorism or engaged is mass shootings or other violence to see if you can identify future cases based on any common behavior. That would be a far better use of resources than keeping tabs on some Jimbo who's always spouting his mouth off about the gov'mint being evil.

    • Minority report anyone?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tnk1 ( 899206 )

      Are you sure about that? You know, serious business types of threats like foreign intelligence or maybe pro terrorists may be using encryption, but there are plenty of people who go out and kill people who post YouTube videos and make posts about it. Lack of operational security isn't always an indicator of whether a threat is real, it just means they have a higher chance of being caught if someone is paying attention. The Secret Service is trying to pay attention.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • >> background checks are flagrantly and intentionally weak

      Background checks really aren't much use. Remember how fast the Charleston Church Shooting story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting) vanished from the news last month when after was revealed that Roof (the shooter) had passed a federal (FBI) background check before purchasing his weapon.

      >> US presidents limousine is almost comically armoured

      The usual way to attack vehicles, buildings, and their occupants seems to b

      • However, given how cheap armor is compared to other protection options, I don't think we're getting a bad deal here.

        Even if armor works perfectly and stops any shrapnel or superheated explosion-related gasses & fire, any really significant detonation will still turn occupants into pink goo from acceleration/deceleration forces.

        If a heavily-armored limo gets tossed 500 feet through the air by an explosion, it's game over for the occupants even if the armor's integrity is not breached in any way.

        It's sort of like shaking a raw egg inside a metal box. It's gonna be messy.

        Strat

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tnk1 ( 899206 )

      True, although I should point out that to make a shot at about a mile away, you need to be very, very good at that anti-vehicle rifle. Of course, there are people who can, but they are very serious business types of former military snipers.

      The SS does check angles to ensure that the President is not rolling up on somewhere that you could get a one mile shot on a target. And when they can't they make sure of that, they try to make sure that no one knows the exact drop off points well enough to plan to be i

    • It's actually possible to buy a Bofors L/60, which makes the 50 cal look like a pea shooter. They are a bit more tightly regulated though. There's some nice YouTube videos of someone blowing stuff up with his very own anti aircraft auto cannon.

      • If I was a narcissist and had money to burn - which I don't - I might make a hobby of buying lots-of-paperwork-required guns just because I would be the only one on my block with such a collection.

        For safety's sake - and to calm down the local police - I would put a gun-lock or some equivalent on them and I would take further steps so it would take hours rather than minutes to make the gun fire-able. I wouldn't keep more than a token amount of ammo on-site either.

  • by getting the low hanging fruit.

    Anyone who is a serious threat wouldn't be talking about it online. He, she or they would be making preparations and keeping quiet.

    LK

    • That's only the smart ones..... But the smart ones would also realize that Ol' Uncle Joe is bat crazy and we are better off with the devil we know.

      • Excellent point.

        If you hate Obama because of his policies or politics, I think that you have to concede that a year and a half of Obama is preferable to risking nine and a half years of Biden.

        LK

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Copid ( 137416 )
      The intersection of "smart enough to be careful when planning your assassination" and "dumb / crazy enough to try assassinating a sitting US President" is probably very, very small. No doubt it's dwarfed by several orders of magnitude by the set "dumb enough to threaten to kill the President."

      • It'd have to be quite an assassin too - the president is very well-protected. He can't leave home without a security team going ahead and securing every building with a window that overlooks his route, and he only travels any significant distance in vehicles designed to withstand a small missile. The JFK days of open-topped limos are past. I'm not sure quite how it could be done without access to some serious military hardware.

        It'll be easier in a few years, when drones get smaller. You couldn't get a drone

  • To the extent that people make torture, snuff (murder), and animal- and child- or other-abuse movies for entertainment or financial (vs. war/propaganda) purposes and distribute those on the Internet, then the topic of this article is far, far from the "ugliest corner of the Internet."

    People who enjoy others' pain and can't or won't follow the laws regarding torture and abuse need serious mental and/or spiritual help. Those who go out of their way to profit from this kind of thing likely need spiritual help

    • Re:Uglier corners (Score:4, Interesting)

      by weilawei ( 897823 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @04:04PM (#50177373)

      People who enjoy others' pain and can't or won't follow the laws regarding torture and abuse need serious mental and/or spiritual help.

      Considering the role of religion in major conflicts over millenia, I see little reason to recommend spiritual help for people prone to that sort of thing.

  • Look, I can understand a few scattered crazies who would like to assassinate the president. But when thousands of people, groups, regions, countries, religions all over the world want to take him out, some serious self-contemplation is in order.

    • Look, I can understand a few scattered crazies who would like to assassinate the president. But when thousands of people, groups, regions, countries, religions all over the world want to take him out, some serious self-contemplation is in order.

      They don't. There are not thousands of countries, nor (probably) religions. Thousands of people want to kill you--or at least would kill you, which isn't quite the same thing--if you give the order to bomb them. The US bombs groups, generally ones that do things that suck, and then those people encourage their friends to want to kill the US.

      That doesn't mean US drone policy couldn't use a hard look--it could--but just because thousands of people want to kill you doesn't mean you are in need of serious co

  • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • So they are paying really close attention to the lemonparty websites?

    Suicide rates of Federal agents will start to climb drastically.

  • Must be an impossible task. (Score:4, Funny)

    by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Friday July 24, 2015 @04:37PM (#50177637)

    This is a fairly typical story on a right-wing pseudo-news site: http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/ban... [wnd.com]

    Now, let us sample some of the comments that could be interpreted as threatening:
    "I dare you to come to Texas and tell Texans that you are going after their guns."
    "We need to undo everything he put in place while in Office. he is a lying muslim and traitor. We also need to immediately remove ALL of his appointees on day one of the next time we return to a Presidency. This muslim theocracy he works under is illegal."
    "Maybe while he's out of the country, we can talk our military into not letting AF One back INTO the country. Tell them to land somewhere else, not AMERICA. Keep him out, Maybe even the Secret Service will do their job of their oath of office to protect our nation from within (obama) and outside. Then he can stay in Kenya, without his protection and live it up! We'll send for AF 1 later, or even blow the damn thing up."
    "I hope the military and the police departments do not follow his orders when POTUS decides to grab our guns. I do not want to have to shoot a fellow American, but I have that constitutional right."
    "MOLON LABE! Send your storm troopers, you skunk, wannabe Adolf Hitler and you Communist wannabe Josef Stalin. See what happens when free people rise up and take back their country in a revolutionary war against tyranny. Oh did I forget also call you "King Barak the Only"?"
    "One if the best reasons for our 2nd Amendment is that we will be able to defend ourselves when the Obama goons come after us!!!"
    "omuzloid wont stop until the heart beat of america stops.....this sodomite muzloid is not fit for the office of the president and our elected servants in dc are cow towing to this loathsome peice of trash in the hopes of secureing the illegal power that he has grabbed the republicans are just as guilty as the demicrats.....we need to clean house senate and the presidency and we need to do this before omuzloid can create more havoc and strife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
    "I look for Obama to go after our guns through his illegal abuse of executive authority. We are the only ones who will stop him and that might not be pretty."
    "He wants a revolution, so he can martial law! I say lets give it to him! "
    "I want to send my sincere condolences to the families of the officers sent to try and take my GUNS.When our brave first responders follow illegal orders against there oath of office , I know they know better. Someone has to stand up and be first , and if our police and military refuse I WILL STAND ALONE. OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS."

    That's just one story on one site! It's an impossible task trying to monitor all the potential threats.

    • >>not fit for the office of the president and our elected servants in dc are cow towing to this loathsome...

      Is the President actually towing cows around town? Do they need special shoes or something for that?
      Are there photos so we can see how it is done? Would I need a special license?

      Thanks!
      ODF

  • As such it will not be all that effective at its assigned task. Just as no other government bureaucracy is effective at ITS assigned task. And just because there's been no attempts on POTUS' life does not mean no one has been trying ... Secondly, a truly serious individual or group attempting to kill the president will NOT be using the internet for communications in connection therewith. Amateur individuals and groups will, of course, use whatever means is convenient, including the internet.

  • What have threats to the POTUS to do with "Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet"?

  • "Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet"

    Public servants all day long on FaceBook is news?

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