{"id":6380,"date":"2017-01-25T12:12:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T20:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/01\/25\/news-218\/"},"modified":"2017-01-25T12:12:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T20:12:52","slug":"news-218","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/01\/25\/news-218\/","title":{"rendered":"Reminder: Secret Service is monitoring social media; 2 women in hot water over posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You don\u2019t see news about the U.S. Secret Service every day, but here are a couple examples which should serve as reminders that law enforcement is monitoring social media.<\/p>\n

While this is not a suggestion to chill down your First Amendment rights, although those rights might be getting chilled ever more<\/a> even as you read this, you must be wise about what you say online. It’s not private. If you start making what could be conceived as threats against President Trump, or even one of his top advisors such as Kellyanne Conway<\/a>, then you might as well expect to be hearing from the Secret Service.<\/p>\n

If you already did say something in the realm of \u201cstupid,\u201d but nothing happened, then maybe you skated by \u2026 or maybe just give it time.<\/p>\n

For example, U.S. Secret Service Agent Kerry O\u2019Grady is in hot water for a Facebook post she wrote in October; she indicated that she would rather do \u201cjail time\u201d than take \u201ca bullet\u201d for Trump who she referred to as a \u201cdisaster\u201d for America.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady is special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Denver district; she was responsible for coordinating with other Secret Service teams about pre-election trips made by the president, vice president and presidential candidates to the area.<\/p>\n

If you recall when FBI Director James Comey told Congress about emails discovered from a unrelated case, which might have information related to Hillary Clinton\u2019s handling of classified information, some people started howling about him violating the Hatch Act<\/a>; it\u2019s a law meant to stop federal employees from showing political bias or using their position to influence or interfere with an election.<\/p>\n

Secret Service employees are also bound by the Hatch Act, yet the Washington Examiner reported<\/a> that back in October O\u2019Grady wrote:<\/p>\n

As a public servant for nearly 23 years, I struggle not to violate the Hatch Act. So I keep quiet and skirt the median. To do otherwise can be a criminal offense for those in my position. Despite the fact that I am expected to take a bullet for both sides. But this world has changed and I have changed. And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here. Hatch Act be damned. I am with Her.<\/p>\n

Screenshots of her comments are circulating on social media. The Secret Service found out what she said and is reportedly<\/a> \u201ctaking quick and appropriate action.\u201d The agency added, \u201cAll Secret Service agents and employees are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. Any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and swiftly investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady told the Washington Examiner that she regretted the post and deleted it a few days later. She said she would take a bullet for Trump after all. \u201cI serve at the pleasure of the president, but I still have the First Amendment right to say things,\u201d she said in one of many comments to the newspaper. But by the time CNN and CBS tried to get a quote, O-Grady wasn\u2019t talking.<\/p>\n

Secret Service investigating tweet about assassinating Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s not the only person in hot water for over-sharing her thoughts on social media. A Louisville, Kentucky, woman tweeted<\/a>, \u201cIf someone was cruel enough to assassinate MLK, maybe someone will be kind enough to assassinate Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heather Lowrey has since deleted her Twitter and Facebook accounts; she is being investigated by the Secret Service for potentially violating the law and threatening a president. She has also \u201cfaced consequences from at least three employers,\u201d with at least two of them severing her work contract.<\/p>\n

Secret Service Special Agent Richard Ferretti told the Courier-Journal that the U.S. Secret Service takes threats very seriously. The public should \u201cthink twice before they send it out; we are definitely monitoring social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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You don\u2019t see news about the U.S. Secret Service every day, but here are a couple examples which should serve as reminders that law enforcement is monitoring social media.<\/p>\n

While this is not a suggestion to chill down your First Amendment rights, although those rights might be getting chilled ever more<\/a> even as you read this, you must be wise about what you say online. It’s not private. If you start making what could be conceived as threats against President Trump, or even one of his top advisors such as Kellyanne Conway<\/a>, then you might as well expect to be hearing from the Secret Service.<\/p>\n

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[11062,10643],"tags":[4314,714,1932],"class_list":["post-6380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computerworld","category-independent","tag-internet","tag-security","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}