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Cybersecurity CEO Gets Fired After Threatening To Kill Trump On Facebook (mashable.com) 497

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mashable: A San Diego CEO was fired after saying on Facebook that he would get a "sniper rifle" and "kill the president-elect." Matt Harrigan, CEO of the cybersecurity firm PacketSled, posted the comments on his personal Facebook page, but they ended up on Reddit where Trump supporters found the comments and mobilized to contact law enforcement. "I'm going to kill the president. Elect," Harrigan wrote. "Bring it Secret Service." PacketSled said in a statement that it had accepted Harrigan's resignation. "The PacketSled Board of Directors accepted the resignation of President and CEO Matthew Harrigan, effective immediately," the company said. "We want to be very clear, PacketSled does not condone the comments made by Mr. Harrigan, which do not reflect the views or opinions of the company, its employees, investors or partners." In a previous statement, the company said it reported the information to the Secret Service and placed Harrigan on administrative leave. According to The Next Web, Harrigan apologized for his remarks and said the threats were meant to be a joke: "My recent Facebook comment was intended to be a joke, in the context of a larger conversation, and only privately shared as such. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not engage in this form of rhetoric with any level of seriousness and the comment most certainly does not represent my real personal views in any regard. I apologize if anything that I said was either taken seriously, was offensive, or caused any legitimate concern."
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Cybersecurity CEO Gets Fired After Threatening To Kill Trump On Facebook

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  • Not very smart (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:08PM (#53292961)

    Just not very smart of him, whatever your politics. I'm sure he realizes that now, but he seems a little mature to be learning a lesson like: do not threaten head of state with murder in a public forum.

    • Re:Not very smart (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ogdenk ( 712300 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:13PM (#53292989)

      "I wish someone would stuff Trump feet first through a woodchipper" = cool

      "I am going stuff Trump feet first through a woodchipper" = not cool

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Neither is cool, you stupid fuck.
      • I don't think your analysis is adequate. Your first example is incitement and your second example could be snipped, thus "proving" you made the direct threat.

        At least you had the intestinal fortitude to put your name on your comment. Or perhaps you correctly analyzed the lack of privacy on Slashdot?

        I'm more interested in analyzing "trumpicide", which I propose as a generic name for a new category of Trump-related crimes. The prior definition is obviously obsolete. Some people thought that the Donald was com

        • I don't think your analysis is adequate. Your first example is incitement and your second example could be snipped, thus "proving" you made the direct threat.

          No. Incitement is "won't someone please put Trump into a wood chipper? for me? I mean it." and not "I would be happy if someone put Trump into a wood chipper". But yes, "I am going to put Trump into a wood chipper" would be an actual actionable threat, if you took it seriously. If someone has both the motive and the means, you can go ahead and do that.

      • "I am going stuff Trump feet first through a woodchipper" = not cool

        Would stuffing him head first be cooler?

        • by ogdenk ( 712300 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @08:16PM (#53293417)

          "I am going stuff Trump feet first through a woodchipper" = not cool

          Would stuffing him head first be cooler?

          A.) It wouldn't hurt as much. B.) It's still a direct threat that's hard to write off as just fantasizing.

          The first example isn't even really incitement because I'm not attempting to convince a group or individual to do the deed. Just saying I wouldn't be unpleased if it happened. I'm not a cult leader nor am I ordering or provoking anyone to do it. Direct threats of violence are bad. Wishing a violent act would happen to someone isn't a crime. Not saying it can't get you a talking to by some mean-looking SS and FBI agents. By now, I'm pretty sure the NSA knows I'm not actually going to hurt anyone. If they could send me a backup so I can restore some lost e-mails I'd appreciate it though.

    • Re:Not very smart (Score:5, Insightful)

      by guises ( 2423402 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:38PM (#53293165)
      It's the same mistake that a lot of Facebook users make: it's a public forum which is designed to appear private. When everyone who comments on your posts is someone you know, it's easy to think you can make a joke as you would in private company among people who know you.

      The solution, as always, is to never use Facebook... It gets kind tired to just keep saying that over and over again though, every time a story like this comes up. I'm going to just start shrugging and dismissively saying "Facebook problems" whenever Facebook ruins yet another person's life. There's only so many times you can warn people away from that kind of stuff.
      • Re:Not very smart (Score:5, Insightful)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:54PM (#53293277) Journal

        The solution isn't really never use facebook. Its remember the advice your mother gave you, "never write something down unless you want others to read it."

        It does not matter privacy settings, or if its your private journal. If you put pen to paper or keys to a computer assume someone somewhere sometime you did not intend will read it.

        • That's my personal rule. No matter what I'm posting, e-mailing, private messaging, etc. If I wouldn't want my mother, wife, co-workers, boss, neighbors, etc reading it, I won't post it. (Sometimes I include my kids in the listing, but there are some topics I'll post about that aren't really kid-appropriate.) After all, nothing is really private these days. Now many instances of someone's embarrassing "totally private" message being spread across the Internet will it take before people realize that.

      • Re:Not very smart (Score:4, Interesting)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @08:35PM (#53293547)

        The solution, as always, is to never use Facebook...

        ... or if that is too extreme, then do what I do: Treat Facebook as a read-only medium. I occasionally check in on my friends, but I never post anything myself. I do the same on LinkedIn, which is even more ethically challenged than Facebook.

      • The solution, as always, is to never use Facebook...

        The solution, as always, is to assume anything posted to a website is going to be public.

        It gets kind tired to just keep saying that over and over again though, every time a story like this comes up.

        Right back at you. Facebook can be used for camo. It's what you post on it that determines its effects.

    • by Xenographic ( 557057 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:42PM (#53293183) Journal

      Actually, it's rather ironic. You see, we're often told about the Paradox of Tolerance formulated by Karl Popper, essentially that intolerance is the one thing one cannot tolerate. However, how does one decide what "intolerance" is and by what right is it suppressed? Well, just look at what Popper wrote [wikiquote.org]:

      In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols.

      From this we can see that the moral justification is based on dealing with those who "answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols." So it's ultimately justified by means of the right of self-defense and anyone using Popper to justify going on the attack has it completely backwards. It's a shield, not a sword.

      Instead, it should properly be used against the intolerance and criminal behavior of those particular individual people who promote or are involved in things like large riots [oregonlive.com] or attacking and nearly killing an old man in the street (as well as stealing his car) [abc7chicago.com] after a fender-bender when they believed he supported the other political party.

      • Thx for the reference to the Popper page.

        Idea for bumper sticker "Death to intolerant people".
    • Once Trump "opens up the libel laws," if this guy fails to follow through on his threat, Trump will be able to sue him. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

    • Re:Not very smart (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RabidReindeer ( 2625839 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @09:05PM (#53293725)

      I have been very disappointed in the response of the losing side over this election. This is the kind of behavior I feared that would flare up on the other side when Trump lost the "rigged" election and the faithful rose up in revolt. It's not what I would expect from the allegedly rational side of the fence. They don't even have the excuse that Hillary egged them on.

      In fact, the only excuse they could possibly make is that "this is how Trump would do it". So tell us again how you're better than he is?

      • Re:Not very smart (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @10:04PM (#53294017) Homepage

        I'm not really surprised. These idiots were comparing Trump to Hitler. Everyone's Facebook echo chamber set up a positive feedback loop. It was worse for kids that might be in college where the positive feedback loop is all around them.

        They think that he's already burned down the Reichtag, has had 10 years for his thugs to beat down the opposition, and now has free reign to be given emergency powers.

        Meanwhile, the socialists are still alive and holding his feet to the fire.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        While reading your post, I found several items to make no sense to me at all. I mean no offense, but it seems you are not well-informed about several aspects of modern politics, especially regarding violence and protests. Let me give my take on your comment.

        I have been very disappointed in the response of the losing side over this election.

        I find it hard to be disappointed when people act exactly like I would expect them to act in a given situation. Staged rioting, funded by outsiders, is commonplace among the American left today. From Black Lives Matter, back to Occupy Wall Street, to vio

        • I agree that it's not that surprising to see liberal protests. However, you go too far in the other direction...

          This is the kind of behavior I feared that would flare up on the other side when Trump lost the "rigged" election and the faithful rose up in revolt.

          Why? How often to conservatives or Republicans riot?

          Not often. But American politics hasn't really seen the situation as it was right before this election, with a major party candidate explicitly claiming the results would be rigged, with polls showing that a majority of Republicans didn't believe their votes would be counted fairly, and a documented groundswell in militias practicing and preparing to mobilize -- for what, we'll likely never be s

          • While I think there would have been a lot of angry talk, and maybe street protests, I wouldn't expect to see Trump supporters rioting and destroying property if he had lost. I would expect legal challenges over voting issues, and a lot of online vitriol, but that's about it. In fact I would expect Donald Trump to publicly call for an end to any violence that may have happened following his defeat.

            And, for the record, I also have grown disgusted with both major parties. I voted Green Party this year, just li

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I find it hard to be disappointed when people act exactly like I would expect them to act in a given situation. Staged rioting, funded by outsiders, is commonplace among the American left today. From Black Lives Matter, back to Occupy Wall Street, to violent protests on any number of college campuses, it is now the norm, not the exception.

          It's so sad that wild conspiracy theories have become mainstream political views now.

          Allow me to ask, are you selective about which conspiracies you believe? Is it just ones that make Trump look good, or do you think he is a Russian puppet too? And how far will you go, is the Clinton body count too much? Lizard people Illuminati?

          How often to conservatives or Republicans riot?

          Not so much since the civil war, because they want to maintain the status quo. That's what conservatism means. They haven't had decades of being murdered by cops with no recourse or

    • He should have quoted Thomas Jefferson.

      "What country ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural ma

  • May (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Swave An deBwoner ( 907414 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:20PM (#53293025)
    Ridiculous! He had no business being CEO with that kind of mentality.

    Mr. Harrigan, next time you should think better of what you are about to say. What you said was not funny.

    You could have simply said "There's nothing we can do about the travesty of this election. Except maybe the Second Amendment People can do something, I don't know."

    See, that way it's funny, isn't it? That way it's just a joke. Everybody would have LOLed.
    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      If I ever got a mod point, that deserves a funny. Also an insightful. Actually, if there were more mod points it would almost be a kind of election to see if people think it is more funny than insightful. The score could even be logarithmic...

      Oh wait. Now I've gone back to those delusions about trying to improve Slashdot, and next thing you know I'll be suggesting that the trolls should be less visible.

      I used to think a better financial model would help. Perhaps a system whereby nice people would be able co

    • Re:May (Score:5, Insightful)

      by genka ( 148122 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @08:15PM (#53293413) Homepage Journal
      C'mon, it was just a locker room banter.
  • Correctly fired (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bikin ( 1113139 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:21PM (#53293029)
    As a CEO of a cybersecurity firm the first thing you should know is that no comment in facebook is private, regardless of the content. He was correctly fired just on grounds of incompetence, no matter his political stance. NB: I disagree with killing anyone, no matter what.
    • As a CEO of a cybersecurity firm the first thing you should know is that no comment in facebook is private, regardless of the content. He was correctly fired just on grounds of incompetence, no matter his political stance.

      NB: I disagree with killing anyone, no matter what.

      I doubt he thought it was actually private in that no one could see it, rather he was post-election ranting in the context of a conversation between individuals on FB (where it would be clear it wasn't serious).

      It was still a stupid thing to do, both because that kind of rhetoric is terrible in general, but also because as a semi-public figure he should have realized that someone could take his comment and completely change the context.

  • by dontbemad ( 2683011 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:21PM (#53293031)
    Regardless of your political stance or your opinion of Trump, publicly threatening the life of a federal politician is about the dumbest shit you could do.

    Sad how these unthinking people will put themselves on lists for the rest of their lives because they couldn't use the slightest bit of moderation.
    • these unthinking people will put themselves on lists for the rest of their lives

      It's fortunate that he was outed before he could act. It's sad and scary that there are government lists that he can be put on for the rest of his life.

      • I have a hard time believing that he would ever do something even remotely close to what he said, but you are right: the lists are scary. Granted, they should be fairly easy to avoid...
  • by shanen ( 462549 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:24PM (#53293055) Homepage Journal

    When jokes are outlawed, only outlaws will have jokes.

    I'm taking him at his word that it was a joke, and I can easily imagine many contexts where such a joke could be made. None of them are public.

    Actually, this isn't an example of the Email Inquisition, since the joke reportedly started on Facebook (though many people communicate more via Facebook than via email). Really hard to imagine how the CEO of a cybersecurity company could regard ANYTHING on Facebook as secure or private. Already quite sufficient reason for him to be fired, eh? He didn't even know how to control his own so-called privacy settings?

    I have a theory about humor. I think we need it to be human. It's intimately linked to our nature as learning machines, quite possibly our deepest and most instinctive motivation for learning new things. Think of how easily babies are amused. Think of how funny your greatest teachers were, though of course they used humor selectively. You can even think of slapstick, where the humor is in the pain of someone else, and whereby you learn not to do that.

    I call it the General Theory of Relatively Funny Stuff.

    In closing, let me remind you not to attempt any jokes in an airport. A friend of mine once did that and it cost him a lot of money and several days of his time. The joke also contributed to some of your personal inconveniences if you ever travel with an electronic device, but 'nuff said.

    • by Nutria ( 679911 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:42PM (#53293187)

      The problem is that, "I'm gonna get a sniper rifle and shoot Donald Trump" is in no way shape or form even *related* to humor.

      At. All.

    • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      I'm taking him at his word that it was a joke

      Than you are idiot or uniformed. One post might be a joke, a second post about how very serious you are after multiple people advised you to calm down, isn't.

    • In closing, let me remind you not to attempt any jokes in an airport. A friend of mine once did that and it cost him a lot of money and several days of his time. The joke also contributed to some of your personal inconveniences if you ever travel with an electronic device, but 'nuff said.

      Not saying "Hi, Jack" while traveling by air is one of those things I somehow learned early on in life. I don't know how I learned it - I never said it nor did I even know anyone named Jack, but it was just one of those things that sunk in, sort of like having respect at a funeral.

      It's taken seriously.

      Similarly, you can probably say you want to kill your neighbors because you hate them and no one will take you seriously unless you provide enough context to actually be credible.

      Saying you want to kill the p

  • "Criminal threats is the crime of putting someone in fear. California Penal Code 422 PC defines the crime of "criminal threats" (formerly known as terrorist threats). you communicate the threat verbally, in writing, or via an electronically transmitted device". Threatening to kill someone comes under this law.

  • But on a more serious note, unless he posted a picture of the rifle along with it, i don't think he should be kicked out of the job outright.
    But it does worth an investigation.

    • that was well established during the election. You're not really getting Trump except as a figure head.
      • by Z80a ( 971949 )

        It's pence having to pretend he's trump, which means having to fight the establishment to a certain extent and not going thru with the gay zapping plan for now.

      • I can't tell if it scares me more or less if Pence is really in charge. I think my "Scare Meter" has maxed out and shattered. It now joins my sarcasm meter and irony meter as casualties of this election.

  • by TomR teh Pirate ( 1554037 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:31PM (#53293117)
    Choosing not to reveal my political affiliation here, my neutral statement on the state of political discourse in this country is that it has for too long deteriorated into something that is sad, deplorable, innately violent, and frankly shameful. There is no leading political voice in either party who after uttering anything no matter how high-minded wouldn't be skewered for his or her position. The hate on both sides is rabid and irrational, and big thoughts have been replaced by cheap taglines on Facebook meant only to score cheap political points rather than argue for policies and positions that will lift all of us up. The culmination of this behavior has led to a death-spiral that has fake(?) death threats serving as a proxy for joking, or maybe not joking. America has become a nation participating in the Jerry Springer show. We need another enlightenment, and I seriously doubt there's one waiting for us on the horizon or anybody left who is willing to join in it.
    • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @08:11PM (#53293387) Journal

      I agree except for the 'deteriorated' part. Honestly we are not far removed from Jacksonian politics. Burr and Hamilton hated each other so much they fought a duel before that. After Jackson we moved to race baiting, and then to muckraker journalism. We took a little timeout to fight WWII and had a little second era of good feelings post war where things were somewhat more civil for 16ish years. We next promptly returned to race baiting, from their we segwayed into fear and nationalism. Which brings us to today. Where economic fears are pretty much the order of the day and the opposition party is trying to 'trump' the fear by resorting to race baiting and identity politic.

      Frankly I don't think much of anything has changed at all, other than in relatively superficial ways.

    • If you want to know how we ended up like this, please watch this video: "President Trump: How & Why..." [youtube.com]. It is a must-view for people exactly like you for how the level of political discourse got so low. It's by a leftist, so you know he's telling the truth and has been fact-checked. It's really sad what he's saying and it is all 100% true.
    • by jez9999 ( 618189 )

      political discourse in this country is that it has for too long deteriorated into something that is sad, deplorable

      How ironic that it's actually some of the Clinton supporters who are being deplorable.

  • I've said it before, but feel it appropriate to repeat it here:

    Trump is a most unpleasant, vile, human being but I get the feeling that the hysterical over-reaction to his election is going to do far more damage in the USA and globally than anything he is likely to do in his presidency.

  • by Gussington ( 4512999 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @07:50PM (#53293241)
    Ok I think Trump is a moron who will probably fuck the country over, but I support the democratic process therefore support him as the elected leader.
    One thing I am already sick of is the amount of anti-Trump articles doing the rounds based purely on speculation of what he might do as POTUS.
    This sort of thing is bearable during an election when everyone is trying to convince others to vote for their person, but its over, he won, let it go.
    He should be given the chance to lead and be judged on his actual decisions, not what we think he might do. All this Anti-Trump hysteria is doing is proving Trump right and feeding the monster.
    • by no-body ( 127863 )

      Ok I think Trump is a moron who will probably fuck the country over,

      If that is your expectation? What is your conclusion, maybe this:

      but I support the democratic process therefore support him as the elected leader.

      Democratic process? People go and vote, one person, one vote to be counted. Is it then fair, to filter those votes by state through another element - electoral college - historical origin described there: http://www.history.com/topics/... [history.com] and turn the result into the opposite what the vote count resulted in?
      Not the first time this happened and supposedly again this time. Isn't this the opposite of a democratic process and can be manipulated?

  • If he's not currently running for president, then he can say whatever he likes and it doesn't go on his permanent record. Right?

  • He said it was just a joke. Like Russian Roulette is just a game!
    • So let me guess...you were all up in arms over this guy, right? Because if you weren't you're just another right wing hypocrite.

      http://usuncut.com/news/trump-supporter-openly-threatens-kill-hillary-clinton-shes-elected-video/

  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @08:34PM (#53293541)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • It's the Trump supporters we have to be worried about, right? I keep hearing it, but all I see in the news is crazy leftist looneys rioting and beating up Trump supporters.

  • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @10:03PM (#53294013)

    Harrigan apologized for his remarks and said the threats were meant to be a joke: ...

    The Secret Service doesn't really have a sense of humor about things like that. (rightly so)

  • by Chris Katko ( 2923353 ) on Tuesday November 15, 2016 @10:10PM (#53294031)
    Somehow, I'm not surprised that an unstable liberal would get their knowledge of guns from video games like Call of Duty.

    Since he's never purchased or used one, then the chances of him hitting anything at range is basically zero.

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