Twitter is subpoenaed in Wikileaks affair
The latest development in the WikiLeaks saga involves yet another 21st-century online phenomenon – Twitter. The Department of Justice has subpoenaed Twitter for information pertaining to certain persons and accounts linked to WikiLeaks.
A Dec. 14 order by Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan directed Twitter to give federal prosecutors in Virginia account information for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is suspected of giving WikiLeaks classified information. The order, posted Saturday on WikiLeaks' website, seeks contact information, subscriber names, connection and payment records, correspondence and records of user activity for any Twitter accounts linked to the two men since November 2009. The order demands the same information for Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliament member and onetime WikiLeaks associate; Rop Gonggrijp, a Dutch computer hacker; and Jacob Appelbaum, a U.S. computer programmer. The information is "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation," according to the order. The order provides the first public details of the investigation vowed by Attorney General Eric Holder in November after WikiLeaks' most recent disclosure posted State Department cables with sensitive and, in some cases, embarrassing information about U.S. government relations with officials of other nations.