U.S. subpoenas WikiLeaks' Twitter account

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

updated 1 hour 41 minutes ago 2011-01-08T09:50:03                                                                   LONDON — WikiLeaks' Twitter account details have been subpoenaed by U.S. officials, the secret-spilling site announced Saturday, adding that it suspected other American Internet companies were also being asked to hand over information about its activities.

In an e-mail statement, WikiLeaks said that U.S. investigators had gone to the San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. to demand the private messages, contact information, and other personal details of founder Julian Assange and three people associated with the secret-spilling website.

WikiLeaks 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 statement.

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

The order was unsealed "thanks to legal action by Twitter," WikiLeaks said in its statement.

Twitter silent Twitter has declined comment on the claim, saying only that its policy is to notify its users, where possible, of government requests for information.

U.S. officials have been examining possible charges against WikiLeaks and its staff following a series of spectacular leaks which have embarrassed officials and tarnished Washington's image.

The U.S. State Department has said that the website's latest leak — the disclosure of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables — has harmed U.S. diplomacy and could put human rights activists and others at risk.

WikiLeaks denies that charge, saying that Washington is acting out of embarrassment over the revelations contained in the cables.

Video: GOP's top watchdog goes on the attack (on this page)

A lawmaker in Iceland, Birgitta Jonsdottir, who The Guardian newspaper said was a former WikiLeaks volunteer, wrote on her Twitter page that the Justice Department was requesting information about her from Twitter.

"just got this: Twitter has received legal process requesting information regarding your Twitter account in (relation to wikileaks)," she tweeted at about 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

"usa government wants to know about all my tweets and more since november 1st 2009. do they realize i am a member of parliament in iceland?," she added.

At about 10:30 p.m. ET, she wrote: "If anyone from @twitter legal is reading - I'd like confirm that I am contesting any subpoenas - I do not consent. My lawyer will call."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.