New York City prosecutors have subpoenaed the Twitter records of an Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestor arrested in October during a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge.
According to Reuters, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is seeking to obtain “user information, including email address,” as well as three months’ worth of tweets written by @destructuremal, aka Malcolm Harris.
The 23-year-old Harris, who works as a freelance writer and editor in Brooklyn, posted a copy of the subpoena on his Twitter account.
“When you get an email from Twitter Legal, you assume it’s a phishing scam, trying to get your password,” Harris tweeted.
“It turned out that it is a phishing scam, but it’s from the prosecutors.”
Harris didn’t appear particularly concerned by the impending legal action, as he fully expects his lawyer to challenge the subpoena. In the meantime, Twitter has pledged not to comply as the motion is being prepared.
Harris was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct back in October. He is due back in court on February 29, but like many OWS protestors, has pledged to go to trial rather than accept a deal with prosectors.
Occupy Wall Street kicked off on September 17, 2011 in Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park. The ongoing demonstrations – which have since spread nationwide – are protesting social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption and the growing influence of corporations on government.
The oft-repeated slogan “We are the 99%,” refers to the inequality between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
