All of a Twitter
Twitter must hand over account information of a trio of people connected with WikiLeaks if asked by the US government thanks to a new court ruling.
While the three associates of Julian Assange had appealed against an earlier ruling, a federal judge has ruled in the US government's favour and dismissed claims that the request for information was a violation of the Twitter users' constitutional rights of free speech and association, the BBC reported.
Apparently the judge decided that such freedoms do not protect the trio, Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, US computer programmer Jacob Appelbaum and Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp, from cooperating with government investigations, but a civil rights group is already planning another appeal.
Judge Theresa Buchanan reportedly said: "The Twitter Order does not seek to control or direct the content of petitioners' speech or association."
However, Aden Fine, an ACLU rights group, reportedly replied: "This ruling gives the government the ability to secretly amass private information related to individuals' internet communications. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the government should not be able to obtain this information in secret. That's not how our system works."
The government's court order was not only directed at Twitter accounts but getting IP addresses and other account details too.
Since the ruling, WikiLeaks supporter and hacktivist group Anonymous has leaked a number of emails it claims to be from a former Bank of America employee, which hint at corruption and fraud, leading some commentators to question whether WikiLeaks' supporters are flexing their muscles post ruling with sympathy strikes.
Anonymous claims the emails prove ‘corruption and fraud' at the US financial institution, The Huffington Post reported.
The group set up a website so that an ‘ex -employee' could air some grievances, but the Bank told Reuters the emails are admin errors.
"We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue," the spokesperson reportedly said.
