Corbett withdraws Twitter subpoena

On Friday, after being convicted in what has come to be known as Bonusgate, former legislative aide Brett Cott was led away in handcuffs. Cott was sentenced to 21 to 60 months in prison for conspiring to use state funds for political campaigning. Prosecutors said that they had withdrawn a subpoena sent to Twitter, Inc. on May 6th that sought the identities of two Twitter users, one of whom they suspected was Cott. Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office said that Cott’s sentencing made the subpoena unnecessary.

Controversy looms large over whether Corbett went too far by using the grand jury to acquire the subpoena in the first place. Attorney and legal director of the local ACLU, Vic Walczak, who is representing the two anonymous Twitter users, stated “While we are pleased that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has withdrawn the subpoena seeking the identity of our clients, the ACLU maintains grave concerns regarding the PA Attorney General’s handling of this entire affair.” Prosecutors said the subpoena was based on “legal reasons” for which they could not elaborate due to the secretive nature of grand jury proceedings.

The subpoena has brought an onslaught of criticism from First Amendment and Internet privacy advocates, who argue that the subpoena boils down to a blatant attempt to silence and intimidate anyone who disagrees with Corbett. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, called the subpoena "unbelievable", further stating "using such a tool to find information for a sentencing argument was well outside the sphere of sentencing guidelines." The controversy regarding the subpoena is rather untimely, as Attorney General Tom Corbett has just begun his campaign to run for Pennsylvania governor.