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Lavabit Briefly Allowing Users To Recover Their Data

Posted by Soulskill on from the back-from-the-dead-for-a-few-days dept.

itwbennett writes "Former users of the Lavabit encrypted email service that was shut down in August have 72 hours (starting yesterday at 7 p.m. U.S. Central Time) to change their passwords and start recovering their data. 'Following the 72 hour period, Thursday, October 17th, the website will then allow users to access email archives and their personal account data so that it may be preserved by the user,' said Lavabit's founder and owner Ladar Levison."

9 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. It's a trap! by Kookus · · Score: 5, Informative

    It must be encrypted and the only way for the nsa to get it is to have it unencrypted and sent over the wire via ssl!!!

    1. Re:It's a trap! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      It's a trap!

      SNMP confirms.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:It's a trap! by heypete · · Score: 4, Insightful

      i consider my lavabit mail a lost cause

      Then you are not the user that the archive download service is intended for.

      Many users expressed a desire to download the contents of their mailbox even if it meant that the messages would be potentially snooped on, as they had important-but-not-private messages that they needed to recover. The archive download service is intended for those users, not those with high-security needs.

    3. Re:It's a trap! by heypete · · Score: 2

      Considering LavaBit is intended for the high-priority-needs user, I find it hard to suspect that this is a very large demographic.

      Perhaps. I recall there being a rather substantial number of unhappy users who wanted access to their mail even if it could be snooped -- such users posted on various public fora, commented on articles, etc.

      I wouldn't be surprised if many users used Lavabit simply because it was a reasonably priced (for the paid plans) IMAP/POP3/SMTP service with a strong privacy policy, didn't do data-mining, etc. Such users may well want to recover the contents of their mailboxes even if it means that they might get snooped on. If so, they can do so. If they don't feel comfortable with that, nobody's twisting their arms. :)

    4. Re:It's a trap! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

      They can't force him to say a damned thing. They can only force him to be silent.

      They could, of course, trump up some charge (or even use a real violation, the arguable real purpose to well over 60,000 laws -- having something you can lord over the head of everyone somehow) and let him off the hook if he lies out his ass.

      My god. How did we get to this cynical point in our own government?

      Oh yeah, studying all of human history.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  2. I wonder what will replace LB... by mlts · · Score: 2

    I wonder what will replace Lavabit for secure E-mail [1] these days. There is always the old standby Hushmail, but it would be nice to find something that can do other features (calendars and such.)

    [1]: Others, it is different, but to me, a secure mail provider, where I am their paying customer and not their product, where they have innate intrusion resistance, and their mail service is designed so an attacker couldn't just grab Exchange mailboxes, or scp off /var/spool/mail/*. More assurance than "yes, we use 'encryption', 'passwords', and 'firewalls'."

    1. Re:I wonder what will replace LB... by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 2

      What makes you think GPG is?

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    2. Re:I wonder what will replace LB... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I started using https://mykolab.com
      They have calendar service too.

    3. Re:I wonder what will replace LB... by EETech1 · · Score: 2

      I think you'll really enjoy it!

      There is also a script in the menu that allows you to make a live CD or live USB from your customized install, so you can get it how you like it, and then clone it to take with you. When you do a system update, just make new live media to take along, and if you do screw up your home install, just reinstall your custom version from your live media and be right back where you were in a few clicks.

      It's the most well thought out distro I've ever used, and I (used to until now) do a lot of distro hopping in search of something better.

      It includes lots of non-free wireless drivers and programs, but I'm not as concerned about purity as I am about having my computer do everything I need or want it to (but a bare bones version is available as well).

      If you look at what's included, it really is the full monty, and if you don't like the customized KDE theme based desktop, standard KDE is a click away from the menu, and most if not all other desktops are ready to install from synaptic.

      I really can't say enough about the forums and help / documentation that's included or available as well. Most settings have right-click "what's this" help available too.

      Have a look at the customized settings and configurations available on the system config desktop too, it's far beyond what I've found anywhere else, and makes doing anything (including locking it down and verifying the install) a snap (or click).

      They take the good parts of nearly every distro, and wrap them up in a well thought out and fully functional package.

      It's been in the top 10 distros on distrowatch as long as I can remember, I can easily see why. It's so much easier and safer IMHO to uninstall what you don't use, and gives new users something fully functional so you don't get nearly as many of the "how do I get it to do???" questions that normally come with ditching windows.

      There is also a menu that pops up when you put in media that shows you everything you can do, and with what program, so it's very simple to find your way around.

      Enjoy!