Lavabit: How One Company Refused to Give FBI "Unrestricted" Access to Emails of 400,000 Customers, October 7, 2013

Source: democracynow.org



In August, Lavabit became the first technology firm to shut down rather than disclose information to the U.S. government. Lavabit owner Ladar Levison closed his encrypted email company after refusing to comply with a government effort to tap his customers' information. It is now been confirmed the FBI was targeting National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who used Lavabit's services. But Levison says that instead of just targeting Snowden, the government effectively wanted access to the accounts of 400,000 other Lavabit customers.

Levison now says that since first going public, he has been summoned before a grand jury, fined $10,000 for handing over encryption keys on paper instead of digitally, and threatened with arrest for speaking out. The Justice Department began targeting Labavit the day after Snowden revealed himself as the source of the NSA leaks. Levison joins us to discuss his case along with his attorney, Jesse Binnall. -democracynow.org
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