The Twitter stunt that revealed sleazy details about Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ acrimonious divorce proceedings appears to have emanated from the House of Commons.

In a clever, web-savvy investigation, the Ottawa Citizen has traced the Internet Protocol address attached to the Vikileaks30 Twitter account to a Commons computer.

On Thursday, the newspaper sent a website link to the account operator, who uses an encrypted Hushmail email account. Other than the Citizen, only Vikileaks30 had access to the website.

Fifteen minutes after the link was sent, Vikileaks30 bit, clicked and viewed the page, enabling Citizen reporters to determine the IP — essentially an identification tag assigned to each web-wired device — came from inside Parliament.

The newspaper also discovered the IP address is attached to a House employee who edits Wikipedia articles “often giving them what appears to be a pro-NDP bias,” and comments on a Paul Simon fan page.

Vikileaks30’s Twitter postings began in earnest Tuesday night, an uber-public response to the Internet surveillance legislation — “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act” — tabled by Toews.

“Vic wants to know about you. Let’s get to know Vic,” read the first posting.

Subsequent tweets divulged Toews’ alleged infidelities while married to Lorraine Fehr, whom he divorced in 2010 after a 32-year union. The poster, who obtained the information legally from the Winnipeg courthouse where the divorce was filed, also revealed a love child, born in 2007.

The 140-character character assassinations were in protest of a bill that many argue will violate Canadians’ online privacy. The legislation would allow authorities to track web activity without a warrant.

Three separate IP-tracking services were used to verify Vikileaks30’s location. “All the services identified the address as belonging to the Government of Canada and specifically the House of Commons,” the Citizen reported.

A formal investigation into the source of the IP — and the anonymous advocate — can begin only if a Member of Parliament lodges a complaint.

On Thursday night, Vikileaks30 had more than 8,000 followers and the hashtag #TellVicEverything was trending in Canada as thousands tweeted banal life details in protest of the surveillance bill.

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