Patterico's Pontifications

6/5/2011

#Weinergate Photo Tweet Came From Tweetdeck

Filed under: General — Stranahan @ 7:38 am



[Guest Post by Lee Stranahan]

I’d heard that this article was coming about where the tweet was sent from – and it’s not good for Weiner…

It’s also not good for the Yfrog theory I mentioned here…the technical part, at least.

As the world has attempted to make sense of Rep. Anthony Weiner’s claim that his Twitter account was hacked, a key clue has been missing: exactly how the notorious groin pic was posted online.

But according to data provided exclusively to The Daily from TweetCongress.org, a nonprofit website that captures each member of Congress’s Twitter feeds in real time, the shot seen round the world was transmitted using TweetDeck — a popular Adobe desktop application that links up with social networking sites. A review of Weiner’s Twitter stream from May 27, the day of the crotch pic, shows that Weiner had been posting only from TweetDeck — one of many ways to post messages to Twitter — that entire night.

Chet Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at security software company SophosLabs, said the TweetDeck stamp “does make it more plausible that it did come from him.”

Another piece falls into place.  Weiner isn’t going to call for an independent investigation.

Can anything be done to force one?

– Lee Stranahan

38 Responses to “#Weinergate Photo Tweet Came From Tweetdeck”

  1. Also in the article:

    As for Weiner, the TweetDeck stamp won’t solve the case itself. But McCroskey knows what can.

    “Here’s the thing that solves it all,” said McCroskey, “for him to call for a criminal investigation. All they have to do is look at his TweetDeck and see if it came from there, see what IP address [it had]. The local police department or Capitol Police could probably figure this out in 15 minutes.”

    rls (5e657b)

  2. The hackers managed to hack in to TweetDeck? Those bastards! They’re more sophisticated than we ever thought.

    Daryl Herbert (80ac9d)

  3. Same thing applies here as with Twitter — if Weiner alleges the system was compromised, with the national attention the story has received, it’s incumbent upon Twitter or Adobe to confirm their software was hacked, if the story is true, because it potentially threatens the security of all users of that software.

    If Weiner’s just desperately flailing in hopes of coming up with some account that will dupe the media into believing him, than both companies aren’t required to come out and say the congressman’s full of it, since you then get into individual account privacy considerations going in the other direction (i.e. — you don’t want Twitter or Adobe churning out your information anytime they think it suits their own interests). That seems to be where we’re at right now, which at the very least is an implication that neither company sees a hacking problem with their software that’s in need of correcting or of notifying users of the problem so they can protect themselves.

    John (f56f7a)

  4. Whenever I hear the latest bizarre complicated notion of how Weiner was “hacked” I am reminded of Rosemary Woods’ showing how parts of the Watergate tapes were “accidently” erased –
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Rose_Mary_Woods.jpg

    Jay S. (79f341)

  5. _____________________________________________

    “does make it more plausible that it did come from him.

    Is the sun hot? Do birds fly? Is the Pope Catholic?

    The story of this guy is baffling to me. First, because his denials have been ridiculous. And, second, because in this age of post-Bill-Clinton, a commotion along the lines of “weinergate” is quaint and innocent. It’s almost G-rated in this era of “anything goes” and “do your own thang.”

    Most pathetic aspect of the story was when a reporter interviewed Weiner and said something like “so the long and short of this matter is…” Weiner replied with a school-aged smirk of “did you just say the ‘long and short of it’?”

    If the guy is bisexual — as some have implied — then his fixation on male genital size (assuming he’s not, in fact, actually self-conscious or self-absorbed about his large hook nose) may be greater than normal.

    Mark (411533)

  6. Somehow this is all Bush’s fault, I just can’t figure out how…

    MunDane (8daa8a)

  7. Somehow this is all the fault of Bloomberg or Cuomo telling people to make their wanted sacrifices.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  8. needed*

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  9. With “TweetCongress.org” involved, can this not be a “security” issue directed at all Congressional communications, requiring an investigation by the Capitol Police and/or DHS as to whether or not these communications have been breeched?

    Does Weiner want to rely on the CP investigating this as they work for the Sergeant-at-Arms, who works for the Speaker?

    Anthony, for the good of Congress:
    Resign!
    NOW!

    AD-RtR/OS! (f756d5)

  10. Another piece falls into place. Weiner isn’t going to call for an independent investigation.

    Can anything be done to force one?

    At this point, probably only if the teenage girls came forward to say he’d sent pics like that to them.

    MayBee (081489)

  11. Re: #10 Maybee
    As I understand the story, the pic went out to all followers, so there had to be underage recipients. Would that require investigation on its own? If so, by whom?

    Sue (24e46b)

  12. At this point, probably only if the teenage girls came forward to say he’d sent pics like that to them.

    Comment by MayBee — 6/5/2011 @ 9:03 am

    Correct me if I am wrong, but there was only one, wasn’t there? I thought the other one was just a witness, per se, so she couldn’t some forward to say she received one.

    IIRC, only one follower of Weiner was a teen.

    Dusty (57ca8f)

  13. AD is right, Weiner, an elected member of Congress, has stated his correspondence has been hacked.

    Consequently, it’s the responsibility of the Speaker to initiate an investigation to determine if Weiner’s unauthorized communication is an isolated event, or if other members of Congress are in similar danger of hacking.

    ropelight (85bec6)

  14. Then, when the SAA compiles his report showing that “The Weiner” was emailing pix of himself far and wide, you would think that an “Ethics” investigation would follow, especially if any of the recipients were under age.
    I mean, how much different is this from what we saw in ’06 with that GOP Kongresscritter from FL.
    All in all, I think this guy is toast: Either a resignation, or an expulsion!
    Good thing he’s got Congressional Immunity, or he might have some serious legal questions to answer too (or are there loopholes in his CI that will force him to face charges of lewd conduct, particularly with minors involved?).

    AD-RtR/OS! (f756d5)

  15. …more on Weiner’s conduct:

    Perhaps if he hadn’t been such a Richard Cranium in his political actions out in the “public square”, and had acted more responsibly on those many TV’ers where he pulled the Full Olbermann routine (not even getting into his many speeches in the Well-of-the-House), there wouldn’t be so many “long knives” pointing in his direction – both in front of, and behind, the curtains.

    AD-RtR/OS! (f756d5)

  16. IIRC, only one follower of Weiner was a teen.

    There were at least two. One who wanted him to take her to prom and one who said “Is my life real?”. I don’t know if either of the two I know about were Betty or Veronica.

    MayBee (081489)

  17. #11. As I understand the story, the pic went out to all followers, so there had to be underage recipients. Would that require investigation on its own? If so, by whom?

    Comment by Sue — 6/5/2011 @ 9:33 am

    Great point. I’d never have thought of it that way.

    That brings up a question. Was the sender of the image in violation of Imageshack’s terms of service? Their abuse section includes:

    Pornographic content. This includes, but is not limited to, content depicting genitalia, nudity, or sexual situations.

    They go on to mention termination and possible prosecution under certain situations. I’d be interested if the photo meets the requirement for abuse, if termination of use has been applied and, on a somewhat different topic, does the photo in it’s dissemination, violate any law. I suppose the last has already been answered because no legal action has been taken by now.

    Dusty (57ca8f)

  18. Comment by MayBee — 6/5/2011 @ 9:52 am

    Ok, thanks.

    Dusty (57ca8f)

  19. simply put, as long as he doesn’t call for a criminal investigation, he can’t plausibly claim it was a hack.

    Aaron Worthing (73a7ea)

  20. Lee, sometimes something is exactly what you see.

    tessa (df39c3)

  21. Re: #17 Dusty
    I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve observed in the past that in many cases the wheels of “legal action” can be outrun by any turtle, and possibly by many snails.

    Can Imageshack call for investigation since it may have been improperly used to disseminate “inappropriate content”?

    Sue (24e46b)

  22. I don’t know much about “sexting” prosecutions, but it would seem to me that sending a picture of your favorite member of congress out across state lines in a way that can be viewed and shared by minors would be illegal.

    If over time he has exchanged tweets and done some sexting with females who turned out under the age of consent, he’d be in trouble for enticing right?
    Even if he was unaware that the junior prom meant high school, and the clue bell never went off?

    SteveG (cc5dc9)

  23. Interesting Lee. I don’t think Tweetdeck is crackable at all, is it? I mean, not without using the device owned by that user….?

    Jewels (c7b6c5)

  24. This may be off topic, but only slightly so. I think that Lee has been hammered a bit on this topic, and I personally think that he’s emphasizing the wrong syllable of this story…BUT, I’m truly grateful that he’s bringing his intellect to this site as a guest blogger for our education and entertainment.

    I mean truly grateful. He bring a perspective to these stories that is refreshing and challenging.

    Keep it up, Lee. Keep punching up.

    Pious Agnostic (6048a8)

  25. Weiner will definitely call for an investigation immediately after the Twitter, TweetDeck and Yfrog records and logs are deleted, automatically or by action of an insider, either a Democrat loyalist or corrupted by one.

    Right now, at this very instant, Democrat operatives are studying tech types working at Twitter, Adobe and YFrog looking for ways to subvert them.

    Paranoid? Why yes, yes I am. Shouldn’t you be too, given the Manchurian Candidate as president? The real question is whether I am paranoid enough.

    Fred Z (38038c)

  26. Pious- I agree.
    I haven’t agreed with some of Lee’s conclusions, but I have been happy to see the discussion. I never thought he should just shut up.

    MayBee (081489)

  27. 21. Comment by Sue — 6/5/2011 @ 10:08 am

    Like I said, they might if they believed the “circumventing” level was breached. Otherwise probably not and the only action they could take would be termination of the account. Then again I’m not a lawyer.

    Just to note, that was based on the presumption the photo dissemination didn’t violate some law. But with the number of lawyers commenting on the case, and none I have seen suggesting it was, I doubt it does.

    BTW, did you hear about the turtle who went into the police station to report he was attacked by three snails? The officer asked, “Please describe what happened, and the turtle said, “I’m not really sure, it all happened so fast.”

    Dusty (57ca8f)

  28. Re: #27 Dusty
    Best laugh I’ve had all morning! Thanks!

    Sue (24e46b)

  29. The FBI should give yfrog and twitter a call and ask them not to be in a rush to purge their arcives.

    Dustin,

    this underwear photo might not be a problem, but I have a difficult time believing there is just this one photo out there.
    Sometimes people do get caught the very first and only time they misbehave, but I know it is unlikely.

    SteveG (cc5dc9)

  30. 29. Comment by SteveG — 6/5/2011 @ 10:52 am

    I think you meant me, ’cause Dustin hasn’t commented here yet.

    I suppose an FBI call would be reasonable, but I doubt it would be either appropriate or “legal”. But even if it was, appropriate and legal, I don’t even know what the law is, if there is a law, on retention, much less yfrog’s policy, which I am sure someone in law enforcement does know. I’ll just throw six months out there as a reasonable suspicion on records retention. I quick search hints that there is no reqt but the government has requested providers retain for a considerable period. I saw one result indicating Yahoo will hold for 18 months; don’t know how accurate or old that is. I’ll stick with six months. That means they have some time before LE has to make the request.

    As for the number of photos out there and to what degree of undress, who knows. My guess: nothing worse than this. I don’t think Weiner is that stupid. Also, I don’t think he is stupid enough to send this one as anything but a “thank you”; he would never send it as a “please”. I’ll leave it at that and let you surmise my meaning.

    I think you have a very valid conjecture vis-a-vis the coincidence of Weiner having an epic fail moment on his very first attempt.

    Dusty (57ca8f)

  31. Yfrog’s Revenge? Hot Air reports Yfrog confirms that e-mail upload feature “has not been compromised in any way.”

    Anon (fdd243)

  32. ==I don’t think Weiner is that stupid.==(Dusty)

    That theory would be more persuasive if a certain married President of the United States of America had not had his dic sucked in the Oval Office. After that, I pretty much gave up on trying to even imagine what people were too stupid to do.

    elissa (db6111)

  33. why did the Smoking Gun publish an unsigned article and throw Mr. Stack on the pinball machine and rape him six ways to Sunday right after Huma’s husband Anthony Weiner hired the douchebag law firm of Baker Hostetler to clean up his dick photo mess?

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  34. btw, lee i want to praise you for trying to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, regardless of the flack you recieved. the yfrog exploit was a FULLY justifiable area of inquiry.

    And patriotusa does seem to be a weird character.

    Sadly some people on the left and the right don’t like to see truth pursued for its own sake.

    which isn’t aimed necessary at any of the commenters here. but i seen him seem kind of beseiged.

    Aaron Worthing (73a7ea)

  35. The purpose of tweetcongress.org is “to get our men and women in Congress to open up and have a real conversation with us.” I.e., to get congress people to use Twitter more. I.e., to immerse themselves even further in this 24/7 gaffe-induction twitfrenzy. I say tweetcongress’s goal is inimical to good govt, even if twitdisasters make for good lulz.

    Machete don’t tweet.

    gp (12651d)

  36. Dusty,

    Thanks for clearing up my lazy reading skills issues… and apologies to Dustin.

    I agree the photo sent was likely a “thank you” and not a “please”.
    I think soliciting something that would require this type of “thank you” might have involved a written “please” (with no photo attached) in the hope of getting a photo gift from a young lady (or ooops, a girl) that these days requires a grey briefed “thank you”.

    The current photo is an embarrassment, but I’d guess the cover up is more about whatever else might be out there.
    I mean dear god, who calls the FBI or whomever in to search through their interstate sexting stash when that might have (inadvertently?) included a high school girl?
    Not a good idea.

    That is my current favorite guess… one I like because I think Weiner is perfervid in projecting manufactured outrage(s). He doesn’t listen, he just starts shouting and talks over everyone.
    His fan girls call that winning an argument, and if so, I’d like to meet their dads to see what the hell skewed their worldview

    SteveG (cc5dc9)

  37. That would be funny if the headline said tweetdick.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  38. #31 = So YFrog has checked and their system has not been compromised – and yeah YFrog would have the logged IP of the uploader as well.

    Lots of ways to discover the truth…

    Lot’s of silence and stonewalling.

    If Weiner was a republican, the neocon machine would be raping him now – until he expurged the truth…
    Why is it that the republicans play nice and confused and silly me and I’m dumb and I don’t know when it’s a democrat ?
    I really don’t get it.
    No wonder the dems win way beyond what they are worth – they all circle the wagons and tell ten thousand lies – and the repubs can’t figure of their opponent is guilty or not.
    I know – “the truth matters” – but with the repub methods we will NEVER get the truth about the crotch shot dem.

    SiliconDoc (7ba52b)


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