PA-Gov: Republicans nominate Big Brother

PA-Gov: Republicans nominate Big Brother
by Jed Lewison

Wed May 19, 2010 at 03:00:05 PM PDT

I'm sure the teabaggers will find a way to rationalize this noteworthy fact about the Pennsylvania Republican Party's newly-chosen nominee for governor (via Ben Smith):

Attorney General Tom Corbett Subpoenaes Twitter To Identify Anonymous Critics

Tom Corbett, current Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania and Gubernatorial Candidate, has subpoenaed Twitter to appear as a Grand Jury witness to “testify and give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of Pennsylvania”.

The subpoena orders Twitter to provide “any and all subscriber information” of the person(s) behind two accounts – @bfbarbie and @CasaBlancaPA – who have been anonymously criticizing the man on the popular micro-sharing service.

According to the subpoena (embedded below), the information that Twitter is ordered to provide includes “name, address, contact information, creation date, creation Internet Protocol address and any and all log in Internet Protocol address”.

Corbett's office hasn't yet responded to inquires from TechCrunch or Smith to explain why on earth he'd subpoena Twitter to unearth the identity of his anonymous critics. Corbett will face Democratic nominee Dan Onorato, the chief executive of Allegheny County.