"If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it."
--Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit, an encrypted email service
Kashmir Hill of Forbes wrote a horrifying article about cybersecurity and the ruthlessness of the federal government in wanting to hack into any electronic correspondence any time in violation of due process.
Levison’s email service, Lavabit, had 410,000 users this summer, and when it was revealed in July that Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, was one of those users, $12,000 worth of new paid subscribers signed up, triple Levison’s normal monthly increase.
On August 8, Levison collapsed his own email entity, telling his users that an investigation by the federal government would cause him to "become complicit in crmes against the American people" if he continued his business. A number of people have figured that the government is after access to Edward Snowden’s email messages; Snowden has been charged with espionage. Legally, Levison can’t protest against the government’s requests at this stage. So he closed the doors on his own email firm.
Levison’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, who is based in Northern Virginia — the court district where Levison needed representation — added that it’s "ridiculous" that Levison has to so carefully parse what he says about the government inquiry. "In America, we’re not supposed to have to worry about watching our words like this when we’re talking to the press," Binnall said.
Levison has retained a lawyer from northern Virginia experienced in federal cases. Within days his legal defense fund was closing in on $90,000 in contributions.
Another encrypted email service, Silent Circle, shut down its system and deleted all existing email accounts when it did so.
After the Patriot Act was passed, Levison created Lavabit with friends from Southern Methodist University to create what the Forbes article calls "an email service by geeks for geeks." Levison’s concern was that the FBI might send the email provider a national security letter forcing the firm to provide information about a customer without going through a court to get a warrant first. Levison said, "I wanted to put myself in the position of not having information to turn over. I didn’t want to be put in the position of compromising people’s privacy without due process."
"I’m not trying to protect people from law enforcement," he said. "If information is unencrypted and law enforcement has a court order, I hand it over."
Levison has said he doesn’t want to go overseas to begin a new secure service, as his roots are here in the USA. He says he will only start operating again if he wins his case against the government.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/09/lavabits-ladar-levison-if-you-knew-what-i-know-about-email-you-might-not-use-it/
--Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit, an encrypted email service
Kashmir Hill of Forbes wrote a horrifying article about cybersecurity and the ruthlessness of the federal government in wanting to hack into any electronic correspondence any time in violation of due process.
Levison’s email service, Lavabit, had 410,000 users this summer, and when it was revealed in July that Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, was one of those users, $12,000 worth of new paid subscribers signed up, triple Levison’s normal monthly increase.
On August 8, Levison collapsed his own email entity, telling his users that an investigation by the federal government would cause him to "become complicit in crmes against the American people" if he continued his business. A number of people have figured that the government is after access to Edward Snowden’s email messages; Snowden has been charged with espionage. Legally, Levison can’t protest against the government’s requests at this stage. So he closed the doors on his own email firm.
Levison’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, who is based in Northern Virginia — the court district where Levison needed representation — added that it’s "ridiculous" that Levison has to so carefully parse what he says about the government inquiry. "In America, we’re not supposed to have to worry about watching our words like this when we’re talking to the press," Binnall said.
Levison has retained a lawyer from northern Virginia experienced in federal cases. Within days his legal defense fund was closing in on $90,000 in contributions.
Another encrypted email service, Silent Circle, shut down its system and deleted all existing email accounts when it did so.
After the Patriot Act was passed, Levison created Lavabit with friends from Southern Methodist University to create what the Forbes article calls "an email service by geeks for geeks." Levison’s concern was that the FBI might send the email provider a national security letter forcing the firm to provide information about a customer without going through a court to get a warrant first. Levison said, "I wanted to put myself in the position of not having information to turn over. I didn’t want to be put in the position of compromising people’s privacy without due process."
"I’m not trying to protect people from law enforcement," he said. "If information is unencrypted and law enforcement has a court order, I hand it over."
Levison has said he doesn’t want to go overseas to begin a new secure service, as his roots are here in the USA. He says he will only start operating again if he wins his case against the government.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/09/lavabits-ladar-levison-if-you-knew-what-i-know-about-email-you-might-not-use-it/
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Levison is fighting the gag order and asking for an unsealing of the case so that other services can file amicus briefs with the court. These are friend-of-the-court briefs disallowed in a sealed case. See:
http://www.slashgear.com/lavabit-shutdown-case-request-for-unsealing-submitted-may-shed-light-on-hidden-matters-25299191/
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The Campaign for Liberty is monitoring this situation and preparing to support Ladar
Levison – see
http://www.chooseliberty.org/supportladar.aspx?pid=927ro
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