"The owner of Lavabit, an email service believed to be better focused on privacy and security for users than Gmail, has decided to shut down the service. It is notable because this is the service that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on US government surveillance programs, was reportedly using. When Snowden requested a meeting with human rights lawyers at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, he sent his request to organizations or groups from a Lavabit email address. Owner and operator of Lavabit, Ladar Levison posted, “I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit.” “After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations,” he stated. “I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on–the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.” That suggests that Lavabit probably received a national security letter (NSL) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). NSLs are requests by the FBI made for personal and sensitive information of users under investigation. They also are issued with an accompanying gag order to prevent companies from publicly disclosing details on investigations into users. A district court in California in March ruled that such gag orders “significantly infringe upon speech regarding controversial government powers.”" dissenter.firedoglake/2013/08/08/email-service-snowden-was-reportedly-using-shuts-down/
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 21:34:04 +0000
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