Google provided WikiLeaks journalists’ metadata in Julian Assange investigation

Sarah Harrison, assistant to Julian Assange, thanks supporters outside Ecuador's embassy in London in 2012. She is among the journalists whose details were provided to authorities. Photo: Supplied

EXCLUSIVE

Google secretly gave the emails of WikiLeaks journalists to the US government in response to an espionage investigation targeting Julian Assange, according to documents disclosed by the internet giant.

Three journalists who have worked for WikiLeaks since 2010 Sarah Harrison, Joseph Farrell and Kristinn Hrafnsson have been informed by Google that all their Gmail account content, metadata, subscriber information, and other content were provided to US federal law enforcement in response to search warrants issued in March 2012.

Julian Assange (right) and Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino address media at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2014. Photo: AP

The Google accounts of WikiLeaks staff were accessed as part of an investigation of alleged conspiracy to commit espionage. US laws referenced in the warrants include those relating to espionage, conspiracy, theft or conversion of US government property and computer fraud and abuse.

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The warrants were issued by US District Court magistrate John F. Anderson, the same magistrate in the eastern district of Virginia who, in June 2013, issued an arrest warrant for former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Google notified the three WikiLeaks staff of the warrants on December 23, 2014. It hadhanded all the data to the US government by April 5, 2012, 32 months earlier.

The US Justice Department opened an investigation of WikiLeaks in 2010 after the website began publishing secret US diplomatic and military reports leaked by US soldier Chelsea Manning, then known as Bradley Manning. The thousands of leaked documents covered US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the conduct of US diplomacy across the globe, generating massive political embarrassment.

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Google provided WikiLeaks journalists' metadata in Julian Assange investigation