The US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a subpoena to GitHub, ordering the code repository to identify to person behind the leakage of some portions of Twitter's source code. Aside from the leaker, the court is also asking for the names of Github users who accessed the leaked data.
GitHub Compelled to Identify 'FreeSpeech Enthusiast,' Has Until April 3 to Provide User's Information
Following the source code leak, Twitter made an appeal to the court to compel GitHub into naming the person who leaked portions of the code on the collaborative programming network. As reported by Gizmodo, the social media company already got the support of the court, making it one step closer to identifying the culprit who goes by his GitHub username "FreeSpeech Enthusiast." The leaker's username is likely a reference to Twitter CEO Elon Musk's promise to maintain free speech in the social media platform.
According to the court document posted online, GitHub is ordered to reveal the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, social media profile details and IP address of the source code leaker. As per The New York Times, Twitter executives are suspecting that the person behind the leak is an embittered former engineer who is among the thousands of employees laid off by Musk last year.
The courts has ordered GitHub to submit all the information to identify the leaker until April 3. As of writing, GitHub has yet to issue a statement in connection to the court subpoena. In response to a DMCA filed by Twitter following the source code leak, GitHub immediately took down the post. However, the full extent of the leak was not determined, or how long it has been made public. The New York Times reported that the source code had been sitting on the website for months before it caught Twitter's attention.
Related Article: Twitter Wants GitHub To Reveal Source Code Leaker's Identity
Twitter Complaint Vs. GitHub Leaker Follows Plans to Make Twitter Algorithm for Recommending Tweets Open Source
It is not only the leaker who is under fire as the subpoena includes all GitHub users who "posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified" parts of the Twitter source code to be identified as well. GitHub is given until April 3 to submit the users' details.
Twitter's legal battle against the source code leaker comes after Musk's announcement that the social media platform's algorithm for recommending tweets will be made open source starting March 31. The Tesla and Twitter chief said that this is the company's way of gaining the trust of the public. However, the public already got the chance to view the company's source code before that, thanks to the person who leaked it on GitHub. It is not known, however, if the leak included the algorithm for tweet recommendation.
Even though Twitter had plans to make portions of its source code publicly available, the company has every right to take legal actions following the data leak. As per The Verge, tech companies consider its proprietary source code as a highly confidential trade information.
Revealing this information would cost them millions as their software products become susceptible to attacks, and their competitors would figure out a way to outdo their products by studying this information. The Redmond Big Tech, Microsoft, and Cyberpunk 2007 creator CD Projekt Red are among victims of hackers targetting their source codes.
