The Associated Press is suing over the Federal Bureau of Investigation’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 Thursday with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to file the lawsuit.
At issue is a 2014 Freedom of Information request seeking documents related to the FBI’s decision to send a link to the fake article to a 15-year-old boy suspected of making bomb threats. The link enabled the FBI to infect the suspect’s computer with software that revealed its location and Internet address.
AP is also seeking an accounting of how many other times the FBI has impersonated media organizations to deliver malicious software.
