Slashdot Mirror
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.''"
There's no point to be made from not complying with a legitimate court order. Just comply with it. One day you could be very thankful that we have a legal system that was created to protect us. Please respect that and our fellow citizens.
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security."
But Then It Was Too Late
No, staying in public eye will do nothing. Despite all the brainwashing by the media, the majority of American public feels Snowden is a whistle-blower, not a traitor. Yet the government still pursues him as a traitor. There is a huge disconnect between government and people. The government no longer does what's best for the people, the government does what's best for the government at the cost of people. Revealing that the government does unethical things that harm the governed is considered treason. Eventually, speaking out against your government will become a crime as well.
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.
Nicholas Merrill fought this battle before.
His talk at 27C3 is very, very interesting and deserves to be more widely known. In particular, watch and listen to his explanations of how carefully he has to choose his words - right down to using "it" for the government person he has to deal with (since giving away "its" gendor could get him 10 years in jail).
All your ghosts are just false positives.
Who is, then, in power of the United States if clearly not the legislative branch?
The business branch. The Department of State works for the arms merchants, and the Commerce Department for the Wall Street commodities markets.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
What a difference a mere few decades makes. This is exactly the type of thing that America historically mocked, derided and demonized the USSR and other "commie" or "evil" nations for doing. America is quite clearly demonstrating that their intentions are no less disingenuous.
The problem is not communism, not capitalism nor any other -ism. The problem is that the powerful will never satiate their craving for more power. Power absolutely despises being proven wrong and it will continue its scourge at all costs to cover up and misdirect conceptions.
This is what evil does when it's backed into a corner.
FTFA, he has raised $90,000 in the past few days. That seems to have helped. He has brought attention to legal conflicts that people should be talking about - that will help in a broader sense. It seems like you have given up any notion of progress. It's people who stand up and put things to the test who make a difference - no matter how big or small. If he goes to the joint over it, that's his choice. This media attention IMHO will be of benefit that could have the feds go easier on him because he's not just some unknown guy getting black bagged in an alley and stuffed into a room with no windows - blah, blah, blah.
Because a real court order, You can fight. You can enlist help, a professional lawyer or even contact others in the same situation and try to fight it together, not alone -- divide et impera rings any bells? You can inform the public about the proceedings and the scope of the court order, the information required by the law, or rather what data was leaked to the secret services. A non-secret court allows for scrutiny, compliance with constitution, law and last and also least, morality. You can check it for corruption. An open court is less likely to be taking sides. And so on and so on, You know, things that a rising dictature is not really keen on.
That's simply not how it works.
The Root CA creates a self-signed certificate. This is the 'axiom of trust', you have to import this and trust it.
Then there are subsidiary certificates are that are SIGNED by the Root CA.
What this means is the Root CA attests that the public key in the
certificate truly belongs to the Entity named in the certificate.
The Root CA NEVER SEES INTERMEDIATE PRIVATE KEYS.
You can have a private key on a smart card that never, ever
leaves the smartcard and still get your cert signed.
You are very confused.
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" ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !