Investigators in the U.S. have asked a judge to help them get at the details in WikiLeaks’ Twitter account as part of a criminal case that the Obama administration is determined to build. Julian Assange, the young leader behind the organization, noted that he expected other U.S. companies, including Facebook and Google, to have similar demands made of them. The U.S. Districut Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issue a subpoena that ordered Twitter to release private messages, billing information, phone numbers and a variety of other information associated with the account that is maintained by Assange and others in his organization.
In addition, Pfc. Bradly Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is suspected of working with Assange by supplying classified information, has also be targeted by the subpoena. Assange called the legal maneuvering harassment, saying, "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."
Twitter did not comment on the subpoena, instead reiterating its policy of attempting to notify account holders if their information has been requested by the government. Mark Stephens, lawyer for Assange, noted that the move was an attempt to "shake the electronic tree in the hope some kind of criminal charge drops out of the bottom of it." Assange is currently in Britain, where he is out on bail and fighting extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations that appear to be closely tied to the U.S. government’s efforts to find or manufacture criminal activities and attribute them to Assange.
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