Lavabit.com Owner: 'I Could Be Arrested' For Resisting Surveillance Order

Zak3056 writes "NBC News is reporting that 'The owner of an encrypted email service used by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden said he has been threatened with criminal charges for refusing to comply with a secret surveillance order to turn over information about his customers. "I could be arrested for this action," Ladar Levison told NBC News about his decision to shut down his company, Lavabit LLC, in protest over a secret court order he had received from a federal court that is overseeing the investigation into Snowden.''"

Comments

Inevitable consequence of unfettered capitalism.

[Joining Yet Again]

Capitalism promotes competitive, selfish activity.

Eventually, the winners realise that they can corrupt the system of government too. By hook or crook - psychology or guns.

The only effective society is one which overtly and deliberately puts a cap on power, both of the government and of private individuals, allowing enterprise to flourish while ensuring that the individuals who have benefitted contribute toward a strong infrastructure and humane society.

This is a social democracy.

The USSR sucked. The USA sucks. They were the same thing but with "apparatchik" instead of "management" to label the guys running the show. Life under either is glorious for those at the top, and a shitty struggle for the average person.

American Justice

[Taco Cowboy]

America used to be, and I repeat, USED TO BE a country which everyone looked up to., yours truly included

I came from a communist country, and I was so impressed with the United States of America that I ended up becoming a naturalized American citizen.

The place I came from there was no democracy, no human rights, no freedom and no justice, America had everything that I ever hoped for.

However, my American Dream slowly transformed into American Dismay, and finally ended up as American Disgust

From a country which cherishes and champion Human Rights, the United States becomes a country where "Human Rights" is used as a tool to criticize others

Democracy ? It sure is a convenient device to hoodwink the American voters.

Freedom ? If there is any genuine freedom left in the United States of America Mr. Ladar Levison wouldn't have to shut down Lavabit

Justice ? Can whatever that has happened to Mr. Snowden be anything remotely related to "Justice" ?

Re:American Justice

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Just weeks after NSA boss Alexander said that a review of NSA spying found not even one violation, the Washington Post published an internal NSA audit showing that the agency has broken its own rules thousands of times each year

• 2 Senators on the intelligence committee said the violations revealed in the Post article were just the âoetip of the icebergâ

• Glenn Greenwald notes: âoeOne key to the WashPost story: the reports are internal, NSA audits, which means high likelihood of both under-counting & white-washingâ.(Even so, the White House tried to do damage control by retroactively changing on-the-record quotes)

• The government is spying on essentially everything we do. It is not just âoemetadataâ ⦠although that is enough to destroy your privacy

• The government has adopted a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act which allows it to pretend that âoeeverythingâ is relevant ⦠so it spies on everyone

• NSA whistleblowers say that the NSA collects all of our conversations word-for-word

• Itâ(TM)s not just the NSA ⦠Many other agencies, like the FBI and IRS â" concerned only with domestic issues â" spy on Americans as well

• The information gained through spying is shared with federal, state and local agencies, and they are using that information to prosecute petty crimes such as drugs and taxes. The agencies are instructed to intentionally âoelaunderâ the information gained through spying, i.e. to pretend that they got the information in a more legitimate way ⦠and to hide that from defense attorneys and judges