WikiLeaks is not at all out of trouble with the authorities. The Twitter account of WikiLeaks is now the subject of investigation and US authorities are now going to court in order to have access to it. Julian Assange has said that it is not only Twitter which is being asked to reveal personal account details, but also Google and Facebook. It is speculation on the part of Assange, as of now, because there is no concrete proof of whether WikiLeaks’ Facebook and Google accounts are in trouble or not.

The District Court of Eastern Virginia district has demanded via a subpoena, Twitter messages, billing information, phone numbers and also connection records of Assange’s account as well as other WikiLeaks’ personnel. This subpoena also includes Pfc. Bradely Manning – the analyst of the US Army who is alleged to have supplied the secret documents to WikiLeaks. Again, this is mere speculation, as no proof has emerged to tie in with the story. This subpoena is dated December 14, and the information it demands is as far back as November 2009.

Julian Assange is predictably not at all happy about this, and terms this as ‘harassment’. He has decided to contest this decision, and retain the WikiLeaks’ personal information. He issued a statement, in which he said, “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 has not commented on this move, although it did inform Mr. Assange of this subpoena, as part of its legal action. It is not clear how the Twitter account access can help in investigations, but one way it can come in useful is that it may reveal the locations of the people who have official WikiLeaks accounts, via IP addresses used to log into Twitter.