Federal judge denies bid of three linked to Wikileaks to keep Twitter information secret

By Dana Hedgpeth

U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan issued a 20-page opinion Friday in Alexandria that denied the request of three people who are linked to WikiLeaks to keep the U.S. government from looking at some of their Twitter information.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia had sought Twitter records of three people with ties to WikiLeaks, saying it was a routine part of their investigation into the anti-secrecy Web site.

But attorneys for the three argued that the release would violate their First Amendment rights.

Buchanan also issued an order that granted the release of some of the information on the case that has been unsealed.