21st Century Wire says…
The Federal Government’s battle against encryption and person privacy has begun.
We are led to believe that Snowden was using an off-the-shelf encrypted email service known as Lavabit.com, and now it looks like the owner and operator Ladar Levison (any relation? Hmmm) of Dallas, Texas has not only thrown in the towel, but thrown his own business – along with Lady Liberty, under the bus.
How much heat Levison and Lavabit are actually under is anyone’s guess. It all a bit secret…
Levison has shut down operations following 6 weeks of Snowden drama with the feds, and we are told that he’s taking legal action in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Levison added, “I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot.”
So is he being gagged by the feds, or because he is suing the government for compensation, or because he’s actually mounting a defense? It’s unclear at present exactly what’s happening.
“What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.”
How do we even know that Snowden was emailing NSA docs over this service? When it comes to cloak and digital dagger with Snowden, we don’t know jack…
One thing this signals however, is that the US and its “friends” will now be cracking down globally on all encrypted traffic and services – except for their own of course…
Lavabit: ‘We don’t want to be complicit in crimes against the American people’
.
RT
The highly encrypted email service reportedly used by NSA leaker Edward Snowden has gone offline – and its administrator claims the company is legally barred from explaining why.
On Thursday, the homepage of Lavabit.com was changed to a letter from the company’s owner announcing that the site’s operations have ceased following a six-week long ordeal that has prompted the company to take legal action in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Now in the midst of an escalating fight from the federal government aimed at cracking down on encrypted communications, one of the last free and secure services has thrown in the towel under mysterious circumstances.
“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,” owner and operator Ladar Levison of Dallas, Texas wrote in the statement. “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,” wrote Levison. “As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.”
Levison’s statement comes two months after Snowden – a former analyst at intelligence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton – revealed himself to be the source of leaked NSA documents disclosing vast surveillance programs operated by the United States government. A month later, the Global Post published an article in which a Lavabit.com email address thought to be registered to Snowden was revealed.
The Global Post wrote on July 12 that the Sheremetyevo Airport press conference hosted by Snowden later that day was announced to human rights groups under the email address “[email protected]” and signed by “Edward Joseph Snowden.” Washington Post foreign affairs blogger Max Fisher and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald have both since reported that Lavabit is indeed Snowden’s email provider.
READ MORE SNOWDEN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Snowden Files
