A teen was interrogated by the Secret Service over a facebook post he made. Perhaps most disconcerning, they came to his school to interrogate him and did so without his mother present. The boy is only 13 years old. The boy made a comment that the president should watch out now that Osama bin Laden has been killed because of the potential of retaliatory strikes. However, his commented was misconstrued by the secret service to be a threat. This leaves us to wonder: does the secret service monitor facebook this cloesly that they can pick up a single comment such as this and track down a “suspect”? Did they not know the boy was 13? Do they have the right to interrogate minors and is there a cut off for when an individual is too young to be a potential “threat”? Is it is possible that facebook, along with other social media websites, work with the government to allow tracking of comments and material posted on their services?
Clearly, we need to watch what we say on the internet. Who knows who will see what we express. But what if we are too young to understand how to filter and express our comments in safe way?
ive heard that the government gets red flagged every time a terrorist related word is said. especially after the death of Osama the government most likely regulated many sites to report any use of words or phrases that can be seen as threatening to the U.S. as far as to interrogate a little boy without his mother present is insane. but the country is probably on high alert to try and stop any threat before it happens. so for instance right now its quite possible that the government has seen this specific blog because it has to do with Osama. its uncomfortable to think about, but government is trying to do its job, after all it was on a social/public website, and in the end, a 13 year old shouldnt be on facebook and talking about a possible threat to a president, just my opinion