Lavabit, email service Snowden reportedly used, abruptly shuts down

[KEEF]

http://boingboing.net/2013/08/08/lav...e-snowden.html

[QUOTE
Lavabit, email service Snowden reportedly used, abruptly shuts down

Xeni Jardin at 12:05 pm Thu, Aug 8, 2013
]Remember when word circulated that Edward Snowden was using Lavabit, an email service that purports to provide better privacy and security for users than popular web-based free services like Gmail? Lavabit's owner has shut down service, with a mysterious message posted on the lavabit.com home page today. Below, the full message:

My Fellow Users,
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. 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.
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.
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.
Sincerely,
Ladar Levison
Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC

Defending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardinhosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email:xeni@boingboing.net.[/QUOTE]

[Lucille]

My Fellow Users,

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.

Better than most fascist companies in this f'd up country.

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.

Because here in the fascist states of Amerika, the only entity allowed any privacy or secrets at all is the government.

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.

Fat chance, since they have the nudgers at the NSA.

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.

So sad and tragic. I am just sick about how the criminals in Washington have destroyed everything that made the USA truly exceptional, and turned this country into just another (soon to be) failed tyrannical empire, and laughing stock of the world.

[RiderOfTheStorm]

I am pretty angry considering lavabit is my primary email service, but a lot of respect is due to Levison for his decision.

[Brian4Liberty]

Too bad the phone companies and Google, Yahoo and others didn't have this conviction.

[Thor]

Wow, a company with principle... unlike all the other bootlickers here in 'merika.

[torchbearer]

anyone want to fill in the words he didn't say?

[Keith and stuff]

That's half way to an atlas shrug right there. Which reminds me. Atlas Shrugged Part 1 and Part II are both on Netflix instant right now.

[tangent4ronpaul]

National Security Letter

-t

[Thor]

That's half way to an atlas shrug right there. Which reminds me. Atlas Shrugged Part 1 and Part II are both on Netflix instant right now.

Watched both. Enjoyed both.

[Anti Federalist]

anyone want to fill in the words he didn't say?

FedCoats.

SWAT raids.

Imperial Entanglements.

America is no longer the Land of the Free in any sense of the word.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

anyone want to fill in the words he didn't say?

"Snowden used a lavabit account thus the criminals in congress demanded I give up all my information stored on the servers. I decided to shut down the e-mail service instead of allow the government unhindered access to everybody's communications on my service.

They then beat my head in and took the servers anyway, then pissed on me and raped all my children."

[dannno]

It's really a shame how few people pay attention to this $#@!.

[torchbearer]

"Snowden used a lavabit account thus the criminals in congress demanded I give up all my information stored on the servers. I decided to shut down the e-mail service instead of allow the government unhindered access to everybody's communications on my service.

They then beat my head in and took the servers anyway, then pissed on me and raped all my children."

the last part is the on the gets my blood hot.

[V4Vendetta]

well at least he had the courage to not just roll over for the feds, like everyone else.

[presence]

This is heavy. Front page news.

By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press
LONDON August 9, 2013 (AP)







A Texas-based email service reportedly used by National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden said it was shutting down Thursday, explaining in a cryptic message that it would rather go out of business than "become complicit in crimes against the American people."


The statement posted online by Lavabit owner Ladar Levison hinted that the Dallas-based company had been forbidden from revealing what was going on.
"I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision," Levison's statement said. "As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests."


The post didn't name Snowden or refer to any particular investigation, but the statement's timing — and other material in the public domain — suggest that Lavabit shut down in protest at the U.S. government's pursuit of the 30-year-old leaker, whose disclosures have blown the lid off the NSA's secret domestic surveillance.


For example, Russian human rights campaigner Tanya Lokshina said in a Facebook post hours before she met Snowden at a Moscow airport last month that the leaker had contacted her using a Lavabit email address. And an online database hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that someone going by the name of "Ed Snowden" registered three addresses with Lavabit over the past four years.


Lavabit might have been attractive to Snowden because the company advertised itself as a secure, privacy-conscious alternative to webmail services operated by Yahoo and Google. The company's promotional material — it has since been pulled from the Internet — said Lavabit's system was specifically designed to resist secret requests from U.S. law enforcement.


Levison's statement said the firm had launched a legal defense fund and was preparing to go to court to "resurrect Lavabit as an American company."
Attempts to reach Levison weren't immediately successful.

[Anti Federalist]

"Snowden used a lavabit account thus the criminals in congress demanded I give up all my information stored on the servers. I decided to shut down the e-mail service instead of allow the government unhindered access to everybody's communications on my service.

They then beat my head in and took the servers anyway, then pissed on me and raped all my children."

And shot my dog on the way out.

[Anti Federalist]

It's really a shame how few people pay attention to this $#@!.

And most of the few that do care, are OK with it.

"Keeps me safe".

[emazur]

What happens to the existing emails of Lavabit users? I assume if you didn't download them using an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook, you're SOL?

[thoughtomator]

Mr. Levinson just showed how small the titans of the IT in America really are.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

What happens to the existing emails of Lavabit users? I assume if you didn't download them using an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook, you're SOL?

what about services you signed up with with a lavabit e-mail? A lot ask for a validation code of some sort.

[Thor]

What happens to the existing emails of Lavabit users? I assume if you didn't download them using an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook, you're SOL?!

what about services you signed up with with a lavabit e-mail? A lot ask for a validation code of some sort.

See red, bolded comment above.

[Thor]

Well, there goes the neighborhood....

http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/08/s...-its-secure-e/

Silent Circle follows Lavabit's example, shuts down its secure email service

Silent Circle's thing has always been the promise of end-to-end secure communications, and that drive is apparently causing it to shut down the Silent Mail email service. Reasons cited in a blog post by CTO Jon Callas include the insecure nature of email protocols and preemptively avoiding the outside (read: FISA) pressures that prompted Lavabit to close its doors. Silent Circle says it hadn't received any "subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else". Still, CEO Michael Janke tells TechCrunch he believed the government would come knocking due to certain high profile users of the service. Its phone, video and text products remain operational and claim to be "secure as ever", if you're wondering.

[cindy25]

they could easily move their domains to Russia or Iceland. this is more of an excuse.

e-mail is no longer than important, and gmail dominates the field

[Thor]

they could easily move their domains to Russia or Iceland. this is more of an excuse.

e-mail is no longer than important, and gmail dominates the field

The gmail service offered by "no privacy offered" Google?

That was kind of the point of their existence....

[DamianTV]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/08/...blames-us-govt

"'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. 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.' No doubt this has much to do with Snowden's use of the provider."

[GunnyFreedom]

What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of all this Freedom, baby!

[ghengis86]

Silent Circle is pre-emotive lay shutting down their Silent Mail
http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/...s-silent-mail/

Citing the shutdown of Edward Snowden’s email provider, Texas-based Lavabit, and the lack of true end to end security in email, US-based Silent Circle has discontinued their Silent Mail service. Commenting on Lavabit, Silent Circle said (emphasis mine):

Today, another secure email provider, Lavabit, shut down their system lest they “be complicit in crimes against the American people.” We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now.

The next time someone parrots the old “if you’ve got nothing to hide” line, you can send them this about the chilling effect of massive government spying on businesses.

[limequat]

I suppose it was just a coincidence that TOR was compromised only days before Lavabit was shut down.

[GunnyFreedom]

Well of course you have a right to encryption and anonymizers under the 1st Amendment. Besides, all we really have to do is harass the providers out of business.

Here is something that pisses me off to no end. We have Constitutionally guaranteed God-given rights, which our government, when it chooses not to violate them blatantly (due mostly to the publicity effect) will do an end-run to the same result while avoiding technical violations.

Um.

These Constitutional guarantees aren't some kind of philosophical obstacle course where the purpose is how to overcome obstacles! Those guarantees are there to prevent any attempt to transgress them in the first place! They say "this far, and no farther!" You don't say 'freedom of speech' but then use the presence of Secret Service to end-run around it. You don't say 'freedom of the press' and then use FCC transmission regulations and espionage acts to take out their logistical support. You don't say 'freedom of religion' and then use the IRS to regulate religious speech in exchange for some imaginary tax benefit.

Leveraging these loopholes to violate the intent of the Constitution while maintaining technical compliance is, in and of itself, a violation of the Constitution. Any time you seek out some loophole wherewith to violate intent, you have already violated your oath og office and should be removed from office immediately.

As far as I am concerned, the very act of seeking or developing loopholes to end-run around Constitutional guarantees, is worse than a blatant violation because it goes to intent. At least the blatant abrogator can claim ignorance -- a more accurate claim amongst elected officials than you might believe -- but the loophole maker has no such claim, they KNOW such rights are protected or the wouldn't have sought a loophole in the first place.

[limequat]

As far as I am concerned, the very act of seeking or developing loopholes to end-run around Constitutional guarantees, is worse than a blatant violation because it goes to intent. At least the blatant abrogator can claim ignorance -- a more accurate claim amongst elected officials than you might believe -- but the loophole maker has no such claim, they KNOW such rights are protected or the wouldn't have sought a loophole in the first place.

Hologram of Liberty by Boston T Party

It's only a mirage to make people believe they have rights in the "Land of the Free". They are all abused as the state sees fit.