Google accused of giving information to journalists from WikiLeaks
Google has revealed that almost three years secretly handed the content of emails and other private information of several members of the US Government WikiLeaks Google ha revelado que hace...

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Google accused of giving information to journalists from WikiLeaks - Video

WikiLeaks Says Google Handing Over Emails to US - TOI
WikiLeaks says Google handing over emails to US WikiLeaks on Monday accused internet giant Google of handing over the emails and electronic data of its senior staff to the US authorities,...

By: The Times of India

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WikiLeaks Says Google Handing Over Emails to US - TOI - Video

"We are astonished and disturbed that Google waited" 2.5 years to notify us, WikiLeaks said today.

WikiLeaks is a little peeved that Google handed over details about WikiLeaks staffers to the feds, and failed to inform the whistleblower organization for more than two years.

According to WikiLeaks, Google provided the U.S. government with email content, metadata, contacts, draft emails, deleted emails, and IP addresses connected to the accounts of Investigations editor Sarah Harrison, Section Editor Joseph Farrell, and senior journalist and spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson.

That document turnover apparently happened 2.5 years ago, but WikiLeaks was not informed until Dec. 23, 2014, the organization wrote in a Monday letter to Google.

"We are astonished and disturbed that Google waited over two and a half years to notify subscribers that a search warrant was issued for their records," WikiLeaks said.

According to WikiLeaks, the U.S. government is trying to build a case against WikiLeaks for espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, theft or conversion of property belonging to the U.S. government, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act violations, and conspiracy.

In 2010, WikiLeaks released 250,000 cables from the State Department, as well as U.S. Army field reports about the Iraq War and military logs of the war in Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks said its staff does not use Google services "for internal communications or for communicating with sources, [but] the search warrants nonetheless represent a substantial invasion of their personal privacy and freedom."

Companies like Google are often unable to disclose when it receives requests for information - and releases that data - due to gag orders. WikiLeaks said "there is no indication that Google fought the gag, and it is unlikely that the gag just happened to expire the day before Christmas."

According to WikiLeaks, Twitter fought a similar gags for warrants "in much shorter time-frames." Those documents were unsealed in 2011.

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Google Gave WikiLeaks Data to Feds...2.5 Years Ago

WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison addresses the media at the Geneva Press Club on Tuesday. Photograph: Pierre Albouy/Reuters

WikiLeaks is fighting back in an escalating war with both Google and the US government, threatening legal action the day after demanding answers for the tech giants wholesale handover of its staffers Gmail contents to US law enforcement.

The targets of the investigation were not notified until two and a half years after secret search warrants were issued and served by the FBI, legal representatives for WikiLeaks said in a press conference on Monday.

Were looking at legal action not only with Google but to those who actually turned in the order, said Baltasar Garzn, the head of Julian Assanges legal defence team. Calling the order illegal and arbitrary, Garzn said insisted any information that would be used from the taking of documents [this way] will be considered as biased, illegal and will cancel the whole proceedings.

Im not sure what craziness what desperation went into the US to make them behave this way, but this is a clear violation of rights, Garzn said.

Our policy is to tell people about government requests for their data, except in limited cases, like when we are gagged by a court order, which sadly happens quite frequently, a Google spokesperson said in a statement to the Guardian. Weve challenged many orders related to WikiLeaks which has led to disclosures to people who are affected. Weve also pushed to unseal all the documents related to the investigation.

Michael Ratner, a member of the Assange legal team in the US and president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said that WikiLeaks had sent a letter to Googles executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, asking why the company waited so long before notifying the targets of the warrants.

On Monday, Ratner went further, saying that WikiLeaks would decide on what legal action to take depending on Googles response to the letter, which he said was expected within a week.

The notification of the court order was sent by email from Google to WikiLeaks on 23 December 2014 just before Christmas, a typically quiet time for the news cycle and was published on WikiLeaks site. Google said the legal process was initially subject to a nondisclosure or gag order that prohibited Google from disclosing the existence of the legal process.

Ratner told the Guardian that there were several questions as to what that legal process entailed. Did Google go to court at all? Ratner said. Would they have notified us that that we went to court and we lost? I dont know.

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WikiLeaks threatens legal action against Google and US after email revelations

Lawyer for Julian Assange Melinda Taylor, WikiLeaks journalists Kristinn Hrafnsson and Sarah Harrison and director of Julian Assange's legal team Baltasar Garzon address the media at Geneva Press Club. Photo: Reuters

WikiLeaks is fighting back after revelations Google handed over the emails and electronic data of the whistleblowing website's senior staff to the US authorities without providing notification until almost three years later.

Google was apparently acting in response to warrants issued by the US Department of Justice, which is investigating WikiLeaks for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic files.

"Today, WikiLeaks' lawyers have written to Google and the US Department of Justice concerning a serious violation of the privacy and journalistic rights of WikiLeaks' staff," the site said in a statement.

Wikileaks is reportedly looking at legal action against both Google and the US government.

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"Any information that would be used from the taking of documents [this way] will be considered as biased, illegal and will cancel the whole proceedings," saidJulian Assange's lawyer Baltasar Garzn, as reported by The Guardian.

""I'm not sure what craziness what desperation went into the US to make them behave this way, but this is ... a clear violation of rights."

WikiLeaks said the allegations against it point to a far broader investigation into its activities than the US authorities have previously indicated.

Alleged offences range from espionage to theft of US government property and computer fraud and abuse, it said.

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WikiLeaks ponders legal action against Google, US after 'privacy violation'