In WikiLeaks Probe, Feds Used a Secret Search Warrant to Get Volunteer's Gmail
The Justice Department used a secret search warrant to obtain the entire contents of a Gmail account used by a former WikiLeaks volunteer in Iceland, according to court records released to the volunteer this week.
Context & Ripple Effects
The inquiry had already reached major communications platforms: the Justice Department sought Twitter records tied to several WikiLeaks volunteers in January 2011, followed by an October 2011 court order for Jacob Appelbaum's email data. The newly released records show that the investigation also reached the complete contents of a former volunteer's Gmail account, not merely a single service's account records.
First-order effects
- The Justice Department gains access to communications and material stored in the former WikiLeaks volunteer's Gmail account, broadening the information available to its investigation.
- The former volunteer and people who corresponded through that account face disclosure to investigators without an opportunity to contest the secret warrant before the collection.
Second-order effects
- Gmail's position as the holder of a user's communications makes it a central point of access for government investigations, alongside the social platforms already served with WikiLeaks-related demands.
- WikiLeaks volunteers must treat communications held by third-party services as potential investigative records, extending the probe's practical reach beyond the organization itself.
Third-order effects
- If secret warrants for complete cloud-mail accounts become a recurring investigative tool, communications providers will increasingly sit between users and law enforcement as custodians of high-value personal data.
- The WikiLeaks investigation points toward a surveillance model in which inquiries can map networks through centrally stored communications, rather than relying only on records gathered directly from targets.
The trend: Government investigations are extending from platform-level account records to the contents of cloud-hosted communications, making service providers key custodians in politically sensitive cases.