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WikiLeaks demands Google and Facebook to reveal U.S subpoenas after Twitter to give up details of site's staff
09 Jan 2011 at 18:10hrs | Views
WikiLeaks has demanded that Google and Facebook reveal the contents of any US subpoenas they may have received after it emerged that a court in Virginia had ordered Twitter to secretly hand over details of accounts on the micro-blogging site by five figures associated with the group, including Julian Assange.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a subpoena ordering Twitter Inc. to hand over private messages, billing information, telephone numbers and connection records of accounts run by Mr Assange and others.
The subpoena also targeted Private First Class Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of supplying the site with classified information.
The court document also names Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian and one-time WikiLeaks collaborator, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and U.S. programmer Jacob Appelbaum - both of whom have worked with WikiLeaks in the past.
The subpoena, dated December 14, asked for information dating back to November 1, 2009.
Mr Assange blasted the U.S. move, saying it amounted to harassment, and vowed to fight it.
He said: 'If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out.'
A copy of the subpoena, sent to The Associated Press by Ms Jonsdottir, said that the information sought was 'relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation' and ordered Twitter not to disclose its existence to Mr
Assange or any of the others targeted.
But a second document, dated January 5, unsealed the court order.
Although the reason wasn't made explicit in the document, WikiLeaks said it had been unsealed 'thanks to legal action by Twitter'.
The micro-blogging site declined to comment, saying only that its policy is to notify its users, where possible, of government requests for information.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a subpoena ordering Twitter Inc. to hand over private messages, billing information, telephone numbers and connection records of accounts run by Mr Assange and others.
The subpoena also targeted Private First Class Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of supplying the site with classified information.
The court document also names Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian and one-time WikiLeaks collaborator, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and U.S. programmer Jacob Appelbaum - both of whom have worked with WikiLeaks in the past.
The subpoena, dated December 14, asked for information dating back to November 1, 2009.
He said: 'If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out.'
A copy of the subpoena, sent to The Associated Press by Ms Jonsdottir, said that the information sought was 'relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation' and ordered Twitter not to disclose its existence to Mr
Assange or any of the others targeted.
But a second document, dated January 5, unsealed the court order.
Although the reason wasn't made explicit in the document, WikiLeaks said it had been unsealed 'thanks to legal action by Twitter'.
The micro-blogging site declined to comment, saying only that its policy is to notify its users, where possible, of government requests for information.
Source - Byo24NEWS
