US Demands Twitter Hands Over WikiLeaks Info - Sky News

5:11pm UK, Saturday January 08, 2011

Carole Erskine, Sky News Online

WikiLeaks claims US officials have issued a subpoena to Twitter demanding information on founder Julian Assange and other supporters.

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In a statement it said investigators had gone to San Franciso-based Twitter Inc to force it to hand over private messages and contact details.

Officials are also said to want information on the US army intelligence analyst suspected to handing classified information to the site.

WikiLeaks says it suspects other US internet companies are also being ordered to hand over information about its activities.

It has blasted the court order, saying it amounted to harassment.

"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," Assange said in the statement.

"The order was unsealed thanks to legal action by Twitter," he added.

Twitter has declined to comment on the claim

A copy of the court order, dated December 14, said the information was relevant to an "ongoing criminal investigation" and ordered Twitter not to disclose its existence to Assange or any of the others targeted.

Twitter has declined to comment on the claim, saying only that it has a policy to notify users of government requests for information.

Others named in the order include Private First Class Bradley Manning, the US army private suspected of being the source of some of WikiLeaks' material.

Also named is Birgitta Jonsdottir - an Icelandic lawmaker and previous WikiLeaks collaborator.

Time to try to enjoy the last of my vacation, I suppose.

Jacob Appelbaum, former WikiLeaks programmer

The US is also seeking details about Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and programmer Jacob Appelbaum, both of whom have previously worked with WikiLeaks.

Assange has promised to fight the order, as has Ms Jonsdottir, who said in a Twitter message that she had no intention to hand my information over willingly.

Mr Appelbaum, whose Twitter feed suggested he was travelling in Iceland, said he was apprehensive about returning to the US.

"Time to try to enjoy the last of my vacation, I suppose," he tweeted.

Mr Gonggrijp expressed annoyance court officials had misspelled his surname, and praised Twitter for notifying him and others that the US had subpoenaed his details.

Assange is due back in court on Tuesday in London in Tuesday for a preliminary extradition hearing.

The 39-year-old is wanted in Sweden on charges of sexual assault.

He was been under house arrest in East Anglia since December 14 when he was freed on bail pending a full extradition hearing.