US wants Twitter details of Wikileaks activists
Found on BBC News on Friday, 07 January 2011
The US government has subpoenaed the social networking site Twitter for personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, court documents show.
The San Francisco-based website was given three days to respond was also told not to disclose that it had been served the subpoena, or the existence of the investigation.
However, the same court removed those restrictions on Wednesday and authorised Twitter to disclose the order to its customers.
Back in 2005 and 2006, the chinese government demanded personal details for email accounts of a political dissident and a reporter who leaked classified information (Li Zhi and Shi Tao). The backlash was gigantic and a disaster for Yahoo: "While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies. (...) These were demands by a police state to make an American company a co-conspirator in having a freedom-loving Chinese journalist put in prison" (Tom Lantos), "It is repugnant. It would be funny if it weren't so sickening." (Dana Rohrabacher). Now, the American government demands personal details for twitter accounts of friends of a reporter who leaked classified information.