Meh.

[edg]

So I've seen a few people linking to this today.

Let's get one thing straight: this is not the Secret Service (or the FBI, or whatever government agency you choose to have a conspiracy theory about) watching or monitoring journals.

anniesj posted something that was, by her own admission, inflammatory about the current President of the United States. Someone else, whose identity - last time I checked - had not been revealed, reported this to the FBI. The FBI reported it to the Secret Service. The Secret Service went and paid anniesj a visit to see what was going on.

At no time were anniesj's First Amendment rights infringed; she took down the post in question of her own volition. At no point did the FBI or the Secret Service monitor anybody's journal, at least with regards to this incident. The FBI received a report of what someone believed (or wanted the FBI to believe) was a threat against the President. The FBI did their job and notified the Secret Service. The Secret Service did their job and went to investigate.

Keep in mind that we are less than a week away from a national election. Keep in mind that there are thousands of people who genuinely want to see George W. Bush or John Kerry dead and who have the resources to do the job. Keep in mind that the Secret Service has to figure out who they are and hope desperately that they're not missing anybody and that they can find out in time if they have. Quite frankly, the fact that the Secret Service paid anniesj a visit - and that after some quick reconaissance determined that she was not, in fact, a threat - makes me feel safer, because it means that they are doing their job well and thoroughly.

So let's not start any more conspiracy theories or make any more 1984 references than we absolutely have to, okay, folks?

Comments

[harukami]

I know it wasn't the SS monitoring journals. However, it's like those laws/bills that were -- were they passed? I'm not American, I'm not sure, but -- claiming to give the government the right to read private communications. It was a comparison I was trying to make, to underline the fact that what you say in public can get you in trouble, and to not rant about people the government will want to protect without being aware of the risks. It's not like saying "I wish Madonna would just drop dead" -- but people treat it the same way when talking in public, and I just wanted people on my FL to be aware that this could get them perminantly on record with the FBI and other such things.

THAT is why I, at least, was linking about it.

[katayamma.livejournal.com]

Actually, having dealt with the SS before, I'm fairly confident in saying that it was someone reporting the offending post rather than the FBI/NSA scowering the journal.

And before anyone gets all up in arms about the SS visit, they investigate every threat (percieved or otherwise) against the president.

[unlovablehands.livejournal.com]

What bothers me is that someone freaking reported her. I dunno, but knowing that people in fandom would do that, when, as far as i can tell from what people have said, she was obviously being satirical, deeply upsets me. Not from a governmental stance, but from a fandom-politics stance. The Christ?