The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that self-described anarchist Elliot Madison and Elena Madison were arrested for “using Twitter to inform protesters in Pittsburgh about the movements of local officers.” Pittsburgh recently hosted the G-20 Summit. During the summit, police presence and activity in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County was through the roof. The Madisons were arrested on the first day of the Summit.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madison, Pennsylvania State Police served a search warrant on Room 238 of the Carefree Inn on Kisow Drive in Kennedy early in the afternoon of Sept. 24. It was the first day of the G-20 summit and also the day set for unsanctioned protests in Lawrenceville.

In the motel room, police discovered Mr. Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger sitting in front of personal computers listening to both police and EMS scanners.

They were using headphones, microphones and maps to alert protesters about the movements of law enforcement, the complaint said. They sent the information out via cell phones and Twitter.

Whether or not this is criminal activity will hinge on what kind of information the Madisons were sending out, and what the purpose was. There are also some issues with the 1st Amendment here that will have to be played out. The pair were charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of communication facility, and possessing instruments of a crime. A quick reading of the statutes reveals that the Commonwealth will need to prove that the Madisons “provide[d] or aid[ed] in providing a weapon, transportation, disguise or other means of avoiding apprehension or effecting escape” or that the Madisons warned someone of impending discovery or apprehension.

Professor John Burkoff of the University of Pittsburgh commented for the Post Gazette:

Mr. Burkoff has not heard of police making arrests based on the use of Twitter before.

He noted that the American government encouraged the use of the social networking program for people protesting elections in Iran earlier this year.

“We tend to applaud the use of Twitter when it’s in Iran and protests we like,” he said. “But we’re much more nervous about it when it’s protests we don’t like.”

Preliminary hearings started last week for those arrested during the G-20.

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