Tim Burke, a well-known name in the sports media industry, is currently under fire over a dozen federal charges.
Charges related to the unauthorized access and publication of unaired Fox News material, nine months after the initial raid sparked massive debates on journalism ethics.
Sports media personality Tim Burke faces over a dozen federal charges in relation to publishing unaired Fox News material. ⏬https://t.co/zUzLVfG40a
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 25, 2024
According to Justin Garcia, Dan Sullivan, and Jay Cridlin of The Tampa Bay Times, Burke was taken into custody on multiple federal charges.
Including conspiracy, unauthorized access to a protected computer, and interception or disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications.
"According to the indictment, Burke and an unnamed person used "compromised credentials" to access and save protected commercial broadcast video streams, then disseminate specific clips after taking steps to mask where they came from and how they were obtained.
…The charges say Burke accessed a video stream of an interview featuring a show host for a "multinational media company based in New York City" on Oct. 6, 2022 — the same day [Tucker] Carlson’s interview with West aired on Fox News. Other streams mentioned in the indictment include footage of a host for the same network discussing the potential threat to his house posed by Hurricane Ian. Burke reported in September 2022 that Carlson owns a house on Gasparilla Island in Southwest Florida."
"In July, Burke and his lawyers, Michael Maddux and Mark Rasch, demanded the return of his devices and said that the seizure of his equipment violated the law.
Rasch said in a July letter to federal prosecutors that Burke obtained the videos by following a hyperlink to the live video feeds, he said. Rasch said those feeds didn’t require a username or password and were not encrypted, and no special digital tools were used to access the material. Once content is made public on the internet, it doesn’t require special legal permissions to access," Rasch said.
These allegations came to light after Burke allegedly used “compromised credentials" to access commercial broadcast video streams.
Tim Burke reportedly harbor unaired clips, some involving Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, as well as an unaired controversial commentary from Kanye West.
The method of procurement and motives behind the publication of these particular pieces have brought his actions under scrutiny.
Burke"s defense argues that he merely accessed public streams by entering the appropriate URL, requiring no hacking or forced entry.
"Our further investigation of both the facts and the law as we know them indicate that this is not a close case. Mr. Burke accessed publicly accessible live streams by simply finding and putting in the appropriate URL for the website. There was no "hacking," no "forced entry" and no special tools necessary. You have indicated that you are continuing to investigate by speaking to "victims" other than Fox News. We emphatically insist that there are no "victims" because there was no crime. Even if the entities streaming the video were unaware that the videos were publicly accessible, and indeed even if they had no intention of making the videos publicly accessible ("facts" which we emphatically dispute), there was no intentional access to ANY computer "without authorization," and no intentional access to ANY computer in "excess of authorization." The only cases we are aware of where a prosecutor has taken the position that access by a journalist to publicly accessible information for the purpose of publishing this information was charged as a crime did not end well for the government."
Their position is supported by previous cases like the Pentagon Papers, where those who went beyond the law to disseminate sensitive information were not convicted.
However, others argue that certain cases, such as ex-Cardinals exec Chris Correa"s sentence for corporate hacking, set a precedent for legal fallouts.
Regardless of the specifics, Burke"s case could yield major potential implications in journalism.
It may further define what online material can be gathered and disseminated, and who exactly has the right to do so.
The federal government"s involvement signifies the gravity of unauthorized access, even to corporate information rather than government secrets.
Despite these charges, multiple organizations, including the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, have voiced their support for Burke.
As of now, the trajectory of this case remains uncertain, with potential paths leading to trial or a plea deal.
