Lavabit has been shut down

[Jim Johnson]

I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States," - Ladar Levison, owner of the Texas-based Lavabit service.


An encrypted email service thought to have been used by fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has abruptly shut down.

Ladar Levison, owner of the Texas-based Lavabit service, said legal reasons prevented him explaining his decision.

But he said he would rather suspend his business than become complicit in "crimes against the American people".

Correspondents say Lavabit appears to have been in a legal battle to stop US officials accessing customer details.

Mr Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, has admitted leaking information about US surveillance programmes to the media.

He fled the US - where he now faces espionage charges - and has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.

Observers say Lavabit was put in the spotlight following reports that Mr Snowden was using the service while holed-up in Moscow airport.

"I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people, or walk away from nearly 10 years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit," Mr Levison wrote in a letter posted on the Lavabit website.

He said he had decided to "suspend operations" but was barred from discussing the events over the past six weeks that led to his decision.

"This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States," he wrote.

The US Department of Justice has so far not commented.

Mr Snowden spent about a month in a transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport as the US pressured other countries to deny him asylum.

On 1 August, he left the airport after the Russian government said it would grant him asylum there for a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23627656

[Pat K]

Repeat after me- We are free......

[Jim Johnson]

Silent Circle has also been shut.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23627656

[Tom Sawyer]

GIVE ME COMPLICITY OR GIVE ME DEATH: LAVABIT CHOOSES DEATH
The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.

...the fact that neither Americans nor foreigners trust the U.S. government and its NSA anymore puts the U.S. communications companies at a severe competitive disadvantage.

This mistrust of the U.S. government's relationship with Internet companies is particularly damaging to cloud computing services, a sector led by American firms like Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Foreign companies say they are less likely to do business with U.S. cloud companies, and foreign governments have entertained the idea of requiring data be kept locally.

America invented the Internet, and our Internet companies are dominant around the world. But the U.S. government, in its rush to spy on everybody, may end up killing our most productive industry.  Lavabit may just be the canary in the coal mine.

Edward Snowden has provided the opportunity for these issues to come to the forefront. Ladar Levison is another hero in this mess... I hope that more whistleblowers and noncooperative folks continue helping open the cracks and letting more cleansing light in.

I hope that more americans realize that with Dianne Feinstein and Dick Cheney on the same side defending big brother, there is no hope of the political process reining in these forces. Economic interests are harder to ignore... trust is easy to lose, hard to regain.

[Russell Kanning]

Most just don't say a word and hand over the keys

[Jim Johnson]

What is there to say anymore?

"Hey, you can't do that"; or maybe, "I have rights".

This one doesn't seem to work either;  "Whoa, Dude?  What the fuck?"

"I'm calling my lawyer!"

"I know people and you're in big trouble"

"Oh, you know people?  I know people.  The people I know drop 1000 pound bombs from the sky and you and all your friends will go poof!"

[Jim Johnson]

Levison said he has been "threatened with arrest multiple times over the past six weeks," but that he was making a stand on principle: "I think it's important to point out that what prompted me to shut down my service wasn't access to one person's data. It was about protecting the privacy of all my users."

He has also started a legal defense fund and said he's gotten "an overwhelming response," raising more than $90,000 in the past few days. Among those now backing him is former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, who told NBC News on Tuesday that Levison's legal battle "should be in the interests of everybody who cares about liberty."

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/13/20008036-lavabitcom-owner-i-could-be-arrested-for-resisting-surveillance-order?lite

[Russell Kanning]

Exactly if he speaks up he is crushed so he had to quit