Professor Joh Comments on FBI Tactics for Washington Post
Professor Elizabeth Joh commented for the Washington Post on a case in which the FBI delivered a "malware" computer program to a suspect by sending him a link designed to look like an Associated Press news article from the Seattle Times website. The suspect, believed to be involved in making bomb threats against a Washington state high school, clicked on the link and thereby enabled the FBI to identify him via his internet protocol address.
Professor Joh said the FBI's undercover operations fall under attorney general guidelines published in 2002, but were still cause for concern. "Here, this isn't a fictional individual" being mimicked, she said. "This is the press and that, in some ways, is really alarming."
Professor Joh's scholarship focuses on criminal procedure and policing, with a special emphasis on DNA evidence, undercover policing, and new surveillance technologies.