• Fast Company, Tuesday, January 11, 2011 12:41 PM

Why was Twitter alone in challenging the secret WikiLeaks subpoena, which the government was no doubt serving other companies? "The answer might lie in the figure leading Twitter's legal efforts, Alexander Macgillivray, an incredibly mild mannered (really) but sharp-as-a-tack cyber law expert," Fast Company suggests. "Twitter's general counsel comes out of Harvard's prestigious Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the cyber law powerhouse that has churned out some of the leading Internet legal thinkers."

The center, notes Fast Company, was founded a little over a decade ago by Charles Nesson, the famous defender of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. To date, Twitter has declined to comment on the original subpoena, and the its ongoing fight to get it unsealed. Fast Company assumes that Macgillivray played a key role in deciding to challenge the secrecy aspect of the order, which it calls a smart move. "Whatever Twitter might feel about the subpoena ... by making the subpoena public, Twitter takes itself out of the drama."

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