# Lifestyles & Discussion > Privacy & Data Security >  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]

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## 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.

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## RiderOfTheStorm

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

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## Brian4Liberty

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

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## Thor

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

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## torchbearer

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

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## 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.

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## tangent4ronpaul

National Security Letter

-t

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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."

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## dannno

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

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## 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.

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## V4Vendetta

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

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## presence

This is heavy.  Front page news.




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

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## 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.

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## 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".

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## 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?

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## thoughtomator

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

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## 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.

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## 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.*

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## 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.

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## 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

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## 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....

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## 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."

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## GunnyFreedom

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

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## 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.

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## limequat

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

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## american.swan

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


Well, if TOR was compromised, it's not in the news as such. What was compromised was some websites which used a FireFox exploit to latch on to some users.  The Tor nodes and network themselves weren't compromised as such. Also, since data coming out of exit nodes aren't encrypted generally, TOR does a pretty horrible job of "security". It's a "privacy" network.  It hides your location. It doesn't hide plain text passwords or usernames.  Without end to end encryption, TOR is worthless for "security".

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## Reason

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

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...edward-snowden

 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.

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## Reason

////////

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## CPUd

> Well, if TOR was compromised, it's not in the news as such. What was compromised was some websites which used a FireFox exploit to latch on to some users.  The Tor nodes and network themselves weren't compromised as such. Also, since data coming out of exit nodes aren't encrypted generally, TOR does a pretty horrible job of "security". It's a "privacy" network.  It hides your location. It doesn't hide plain text passwords or usernames.  Without end to end encryption, TOR is worthless for "security".


I know people who set up TOR exit nodes just so they can get the passwords for forum accounts, email accounts, paysite 'erotica' accounts, etc.

ETA: I should mention doing such a thing from your residential service is dangerous in itself, because while you may be snatching people's passwords, you are also responsible for whatever things the users do through your IP.

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## Lucille

What Ladar Levison Is Saying and Not Saying About Closing His E-Mail Service
http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/...-mail-service/




> Hes saying that he cant say anything. Hes saying that his First Amendment right to free speech has been removed





> As Kevin Poulsen and others have pointed out, our collective experience has prepared us to guess what is going on here: Levison got either a national-security letter or a full blown search or eavesdropping warrant.


Related:  National Security Letter Destroys Free Speech
http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/...s-free-speech/




> Brewster Kahle got one. The litigation on the gag order within national security letters is discussed in this Wikipedia article. Section 505 of the USA Patriot Act has greatly expanded use of the national security letter. Congress is busy passing laws that abridge the right to free speech.


What Its Like to Get a National-Security Letter
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...ty-letter.html




> In the summer of 2011, while he was fighting an indictment for alleged computer crimes, Aaron Swartz, an information activist, read Kafkas The Trial and commented on it at his Web site.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 			
> 				    A deep and magnificent work. Id not really read much Kafka before and had grown up led to believe that it was a paranoid and hyperbolic work, dystopian fiction in the style of George Orwell. Yet I read it and found it was precisely accurateevery single detail perfectly mirrored my own experience. This isnt fiction, but documentary.
> 			
> ...

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## HOLLYWOOD

YOU ARE FREE TO DO... WHAT WE TELL YOU!  

This tyrannical system has now complete totalitarian rule. It's just all glossed-over with BS letters and acts to cover the elitists and political dictators/rulers. There is no representation in a bribery-security system.

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## muh_roads

I guess it's a good thing I never got too comfortable with hushmail.  I wonder what similar services are the next target?  Being able to speak in private should always be your personal right.

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## muh_roads

> I know people who set up TOR exit nodes just so they can get the passwords for forum accounts, email accounts, paysite 'erotica' accounts, etc.
> 
> ETA: I should mention doing such a thing from your residential service is dangerous in itself, because while you may be snatching people's passwords, you are also responsible for whatever things the users do through your IP.


Wouldn't the safe thing for hackers to do would be to set up their Tor exit node through a VPN?

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## CPUd

> Wouldn't the safe thing for hackers to do would be to set up their Tor exit node through a VPN?


Yeah, they will make sure it is done on a machine that can't be traced back to their identity.

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## better-dead-than-fed

"Owner of Snowden’s Email Service on Why He Closed Lavabit Rather Than Comply With Gov’t":

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/1..._email_service

I do not know what democracynow is, I saw the link on Twitter. If democracynow is bad, don't shoot the messenger plz

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