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The Globe and Mail and other media outlets fell for a fake tweet during the shooting at LAX on Friday.

A gunman opened fire near Terminal 3, killing a TSA agent and injuring several other people. As the situation unfolded Friday, a tweet from @HeadIineNews said that former NSA director Michael Hayden had been shot dead at the airport. At the time, the account had the same logo as @BreakingNews.

The Globe and Mail picked up the tweet, and falsely reported, “LAPD is reporting Ex-NSA chief Michael Hayden has been shot dead at LAX. Radical Christian gr0up has claimed responsibility on its website.” The information was attributed to “Reuters and Associated Press” in the byline, though neither outlet had reported it.

Canada’s Sun News Network and the BBC also picked up the false story, according to Gawker, but later took it down. The Globe and Mail retracted its story, which now reads, “Reports that a former NSA chief was among the victims appear to be a hoax.”

It is the instance of news outlets putting out inaccurate information during breaking news situations. During the Washington Navy Yard shooting in September, for example, television networks got the gunman’s name and number of shooters wrong. Those errors came after similar mistakes in Newtown and in Boston.

LAX: Ex-NSA Chief Michael Hayden Shot Dead: News Is A Hoax [UPDATED] (valuewalk.com)
LAX government / media shooting hoax features sub zero crisis actor: Police Chief admits to the contrived event (alakhtal.wordpress.com)

Chief DHS Privacy Officer: Government Called Privacy Office “Terrorists” | Zero Hedge

October 3, 2013 7:01 am / Leave a comment

Chief DHS Privacy Officer: Government Called Privacy Office “Terrorists” | Zero Hedge. (FULL ARTICLE)

Wall Street Journal reporter Jennifer Valentino tweets:

Former DHS Privacy Officer Mary Ellen Callahan: DHS Privacy Office was accused monthly of being “terrorists” by DHS, IC

“DHS” stands for the Department of Homeland Security; “IC” stands for the intelligence community.

This is not an isolated or melodramatic statement. Rather, it is how the homeland security and intelligence communities look at privacy.

For example, former NSA and CIA boss Michael Haydencompared privacy advocates to terrorists:

“If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?” said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to “nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex in five or six years”…..

Former DHS Chief Privacy Officer Was Regularly Called a “Terrorist” by the Intelligence Community (libertyblitzkrieg.com)
Speaking of releasing government documents… (terrortrials.blogspot.com)
Who Wants to Be NSA’s First Civil Liberties and Privacy Officer? (animalnewyork.com)

Does the Government Only Label Bad Guys As Terrorists? | Washington’s Blog

September 30, 2013 8:08 am / Leave a comment

Does the Government Only Label Bad Guys As Terrorists? | Washington’s Blog.

Government Blurs the Lines Between Bad Guys and Average Americans

Preface: Whether you believe this is a conspiracy by the government – or just over-reaction, incompetence or cronyism – the end result is idiotic … and counter-productive.

Former NSA boss Michael Hayden compared privacy advocates to terrorists:

“If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?” said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to “nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex in five or six years”.

“They may want to come after the US government, but frankly, you know, the dot-mil stuff is about the hardest target in the United States,” Hayden said, using a shorthand for US military networks. “So if they can’t create great harm to dot-mil, who are they going after? Who for them are the World Trade Centers? The World Trade Centers, as they were for al-Qaida.”…