The U.S. government keeps action against WikiLeaks by sending Twitter a subpoena demanding reams of information about Julian Assange and several other WikiLeaks-related folks, including Bradley Manning.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange said he believed other American Internet companies such as Facebook and Google may also have been ordered to divulge information on himself and colleagues.
The US is examining possible charges against Mr Assange over the leaking of 250,000 classified diplomatic cables.
Reports indicate the Department of Justice may seek to indict him on charges of conspiring to steal documents with Private First Class Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst.
Mr. Manning is facing a court martial and up to 52 years in prison for allegedly sending Wikileaks the diplomatic cables, as well military logs about incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq and a classified military video.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a subpoena ordering Twitter Inc. to hand over private messages, billing information, telephone numbers and connection records of accounts run by Mr Assange and others.
The subpoena also targeted Private First Class Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of supplying the site with classified information.
The court document also names Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian and one-time WikiLeaks collaborator, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and U.S. programmer Jacob Appelbaum - both of whom have worked with WikiLeaks in the past.
The subpoena, dated December 14, asked for information dating back to November 1, 2009.
Meanwhile, Politicians in Iceland have hit out at a US request for Twitter to hand over details of a member of the country's parliament because of her connections with WikiLeaks.
Icelandic Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson said it was not acceptable that US authorities had demanded the information.
"According to the documents that I have seen, an Icelandic parliamentarian is being investigated in a criminal case in the United States for no reason at all," Skarphedinsson told Icelandic public radio RUV.
"It is intolerable that an elected representative is being treated like that," he added.
The server logs which could identify the computer and geographical location of where even private messages were sent from have also been ordered to be handed over.
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