LadarLevison
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Snowden's email provider confirms it was an investigation target
It's a poorly kept secret that officials targeted Lavabit's secure email service as part of their investigation into Edward Snowden's leaks. Heck, the US government inadvertently leaked the truth itself. However, a gag order has prevented Lavabit from publicly acknowledging this... until now. In a statement, company founder Ladar Levinson can finally confirm that law enforcement pursued Lavabit in order to access Snowden's communications. When the investigation began, authorities wanted the provider to hand over an encryption key that would not only expose Snowden, but all 410,000 Lavabit customers. It's no wonder that Levinson decided to close shop -- it's hard to advertise private email when the feds can theoretically spy on any of your users.
Edward Snowden is the Lavabit user the government was after
There was never hard proof that the government was after Edward Snowden during its pursuit of now-defunct secure email service Lavabit, but that's changed. In an embarrassing gaffe, the feds released unredacted court documents confirming the suspicion everyone had but no one could prove outright. Wired reports that Lavabit's former owner Ladar Levison has been threatened with contempt and possible jail time in the event of breaking his silence. It's a good thing he doesn't have to worry about that anymore, isn't it?
Lavabit reinstates service briefly so users can download emails, change passwords
Email provider Lavabit shut down in August due to government pressure in the wake the Edward Snowden leaks, but it is apparently re-opening -- for a little while. A press release issued by Lavabit indicates that there's a two-step process, with step one giving users a chance to change their password (which started at 8PM ET tonight). Step two kicks in on October 17th or 18th and will let users download an archive of their stored messages and personal account data. The password change is in response to information that the company's SSL certificates have been compromised by the investigation. User's accounts should be secure under a new key after their passwords are reset, not to mention the bonus of having access to their data again. If you had an account, it's accessible at Liberty.Lavabit.com, those interested in founder Ladar Levison's legal battle can provide support at Rally.org.
Lavabit founder chafes under NSA scrutiny, speaks out against govermental privacy violations
Lavabit shut down its email services a couple weeks ago in response to governmental pressure regarding NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's account. At the time, founder Ladar Levison stated he was shutting down Lavabit because he didn't want to "become complicit in crimes against the American people," but didn't expound upon what that statement meant due to a governmental gag order. The Guardian spoke with Levison recently, however, and while he still didn't deliver details about his legal dealings with Uncle Sam, he did share some thoughts about governmental surveillance in general. As you might expect, Levison is against ubiquitous governmental surveillance of communications between citizens. To that end, he's calling for a change to be made in US law so that private and secure communications services can operate without being used as "listening posts for an American surveillance network." He's not wholly against the feds tapping phone lines, though, as he recognizes the role such surveillance plays in law enforcement. However, he thinks the methods that are being used to conduct that surveillance should be made public -- not an unreasonable request, by any means. You can read Levison's full take on the matter, along with a recounting of reasons behind Lavabit's creation at the source below.
Lavabit, reportedly Edward Snowden's email service of choice, shuts down
It looks like Edward Snowden is going to have to find a new email service as the one he supposedly used -- Lavabit -- has abruptly closed its doors. The company's owner, Ladar Levison, posted an open letter on the site today, saying, "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." Levison also claimed to be unable to speak to the specifics surrounding the situation, stating that a Congressionally approved gag order prevented him from doing so. While Lavabit's situation seems pretty dire, it might not be curtains just yet. In his message, Levison stated that he would take his fight to reinstate Lavabit to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. To read the missive in full, head on over to the source link below.
