WikiLeaks says it is instructing lawyers to oppose a US court subpoena ordering internet messaging network Twitter to disclose personal details of several people connected to the whistle-blowing website.
WikiLeaks has been publishing the contents of some of the 250,000 classified American diplomatic papers it has obtained, angering the US and other governments.
The District Court in Virginia said it wanted information including user names, addresses, connection records, telephone numbers and payment details, the BBC reports.
Those named include WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Reports indicate the Department of Justice may seek to charge him with conspiring to steal documents with Private First Class Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst.
Private 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 order to Twitter was issued on 14 December, and the San Francisco-based website was told not to disclose it had been served the subpoena.
The BBC says the court removed those restrictions on Wednesday and authorised Twitter to disclose the order to its customers.
According to WikiLeaks, the subpoena was only made public because Twitter took legal action contesting the ruling.
Others named included Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, who revealed on Friday that the department of justice had asked Twitter for her personal details and all of her tweets since November 2009.
The MP says she plans to fight the ruling and has raised the matter with the Icelandic justice minister.
