Crossing the Pond by Subpoena to Get Brit Twitterer's Personal Data

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Herald Scotland reports that the South Tyneside Council of the coastal town of South Shields, England, has brought a California legal action against San Francisco-based Twitter to ferret out the identity of Mr. Monkey.

What sounds like a prolonged Monty Python sketch may have profound implications for social media users in the U.K. A pseudonymous microblogger, "Mr. Monkey," has been posting allegedly false and defamatory remarks about South Tyneside councillors and staffers. Suit was instituted in California and a subpoena sent to Twitter seeking personal information concerning the Mr. Monkey account.  Twitter did not comment in The Herald Scotland article.