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Gov't Accidentally Publishes Target of Lavabit Probe: It's Snowden (arstechnica.com)

AmiMoJo writes: In the summer of 2013, secure e-mail service Lavabit was ordered by a federal judge to provide real-time e-mail monitoring of one of its users. Rather than comply with the order, Levison shut down his entire company. He said what the government was seeking would have endangered the privacy of all of his 410,000 users. Now, what was widely assumed has been confirmed. In documents posted to the federal PACER database this month, the government accidentally left his e-mail, 'Ed_snowden@lavabit.com,' unredacted for all to see.

29 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Man!! Cold Revolution. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apple and these guys telling the government to fuck themselves.

    The US electorate going apeshit.

    It's like we're in a cold revolution!

    1. Re:Man!! Cold Revolution. by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's like we're in a cold revolution!

      Really cold - Most people have no clue about the implications of these issues (if they even know about them).

      A majority of people, for example, think Apple should roll over for the FBI "just this once" because terrorism, and they see the entire tech world rallying behind Apple (a near frickin' miracle to those of us in the trenches) as nothing but a bunch of damned elitist geeks trying to circle the wagons.

    2. Re:Man!! Cold Revolution. by fyngyrz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Underrated

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    3. Re:Man!! Cold Revolution. by wbr1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      People do not care as long as you make their cage comfortable enough.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
  2. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I guess it is nice that the government accidentally confirmed the obvious, but it's not much of a news story.

    It's obvious to anyone with a brain. Unfortunately there are people that thinks (or claim that they think) that it is just ramblings of conspiracy theorist nutjobs.
    Having a source to point to is always nice.

  3. Ed_Snowden@lavabit? seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It would seem to me that someone who seemed so paranoid (rightfully so) would use a pseudonym or alias of some sort.

  4. Re:So what? by NatasRevol · · Score: 5, Informative

    The real news story is how lavabit was abused in closed court. And they fought back - a bit. Sent the required SSL encryption keys(!) as 4point 11 page document rather than .pem files.

    https://twitter.com/JZdziarski...

    Read all the other bullshit that the government AND the court/judge got away with behind closed doors.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  5. Levison should be made whole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy hasn't done anything wrong, yet lost his business due to governmental pressure.

    The government (which in effect means the taxpayers) should compensate this man for the loss of his business. He had the personal integrity to stand up for his users even at great personal cost to himself. If our society shits on people like that, while the ones who succeed are people like this, then I think we've lost the plot. Our society is rotten to the core.

    We need to start treating people like Snowden (or apparently this Levison chap) with respect for their service to the public, and punishing the people who are responsible for the wrong doings to begin with, rather than punishing the whistleblowers.

    Yes, the money to compensate him for the loss of his business comes out of taxpayer coffers, but it's lost in the noise of graft and corruption losses, and anyway, we, the taxpayers, elected the clowns that caused the problem, so it's really our fault in the end.

    1. Re:Levison should be made whole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      THIS.

      I am so sick of the government's willingness to throw American companies under the bus and destroy jobs. I am glad Apple is fighting back.

      How much longer will we allow the economy to be wrecked for the perception of "security".

      How much longer until the global market for American products dries up completely because of fear of American spying?

      You've already got Microsoft offshoring cloud servers to get out from under Uncle Sam's thumb.

      The NSA, FBI and the politicians who support them need to be bitchslapped back into reality here.

    2. Re:Levison should be made whole by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 4, Informative

      The government asked for his TLS key, so that they could capture passwords as they were being sent to the servers. There is no way each user could have been given a separate TLS key. I dont think you understand how any of this works. It was either sell all his users or shutdown (and still be in contempt of court).

  6. The Government puts Top Men on the job.... by Salgak1 · · Score: 2

    . . . .Top men, I tell you. . . . (grin) Mind you, even a layman can see what a clown car it usually is. . . . The fact that MOST of the evidence that Snowden was the target was redacted, probably got some Fed promoted to GS-15, and a nice performance bonus.

  7. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think you are being a bit hyperbolic using the word obvious.

    The evidence was reasonable as to draw the conclusion, but it wasn't obvious. And there would always be those who refused to recognize the strong likelihood. However, now, the truth is undeniable.

  8. Re:So what? by NatasRevol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The point GP was trying to make is that many people are not reasonable and cannot draw conclusions well, so NEED obvious answers.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  9. Conservative objections? by jodido · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Where were all the conservatives who complain about government regulation strangling businesses when government regulations strangled Lavabit?

    1. Re:Conservative objections? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you actually read the articles, you would have seen at the time that they were there. Conservatives are and were against unbounded government intrusion "security at the expense of liberty"; there's a lot in common with pure Libertarians and republican Conservatives. Just as the Democrat party is composed of factions of Communist, big-government Statist, Social Liberal and hands-off-my-freedom Libertarian elements, the Republicans are composed of big-government Statist, individualist Conservative and hands-off-my-business Libertarian factions.

      This is why there is such a schism in the GOP in this election cycle, where the large-government status-quo establishment is fighting to retain power in light of populist & conservative challengers leading the race.

    2. Re:Conservative objections? by jandrese · · Score: 2

      Could you point me to one of those articles? I am having trouble finding them.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  10. Re:Ed_Snowden@lavabit? seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, all of this could've been avoided if he just used Not_Ed_Snowden@lavabit.com

  11. Re:So what? by jimbob6 · · Score: 2

    In a world where we TRULY have a clandestine nebulous paramilitary think tank spying on every American in an attempt to suppress dissent. And a secret out of country military torture prison where we send such undesirables. The whole "conspiracy theorist nut job" argument kind of goes out the window.

  12. Really? by jimbob6 · · Score: 2

    Does any one really believe that Edward Snowdens email address is 'Ed_snowden@lavabit.com' ?

    1. Re:Really? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does any one really believe that Edward Snowdens email address is 'Ed_snowden@lavabit.com' ?

      No. He would either have capitalized both the E and the S.or neither.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  13. The worst part by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The worst part is that shit like this is no longer surprising or noteworthy.

    There was a time when a revelation like this would have been major news, all the papers and news stations would have had a field day with it, and heads would have rolled. Now there's barely the merest hint of interest, and not a shred of outrage.

    The public has been thoroughly desensitized to what should be seen as egregious and illegal behavior by the government, yet for most people it's basically a snoozefest.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:The worst part by dj245 · · Score: 2

      The worst part is that shit like this is no longer surprising or noteworthy.

      There was a time when a revelation like this would have been major news, all the papers and news stations would have had a field day with it, and heads would have rolled. Now there's barely the merest hint of interest, and not a shred of outrage.

      The public has been thoroughly desensitized to what should be seen as egregious and illegal behavior by the government, yet for most people it's basically a snoozefest.

      The most popular news companies don't devote any time to long-term stories, or do any investigative journalism anymore. The focus is on being first and being entertaining. Most are bought and paid for on certain issues.

      There are many outfits that still do news the old-fashioned way, but they are usually small, niche, and don't have the funding that the major networks have. They also have different focuses and strengths. News today is about figuring out who has an agenda on a topic-by-topic basis. Vice News is usually very fair and unbiased with stories about Russia and North Korea, but their environmental and weed stories are obviously biased. Russia Today (RT) is a decent source of news for topics that don't involve the interests of Russia (such as their coverage of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake). BBC has been covering the European refugee crisis very well, but a lot of their news isn't relevent to US citizen. It shouldn't be required to figure out which news organizations may have an agenda on a certain topic, and avoid those organizations on those topics, but that's the way it is now.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  14. Re:So what? by Sloppy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The news story is what happens if The People ever start to care about their most basic rights. Because if they gave a fuck, the obvious followup question to the government is: Why was it necessary to keep the target a secret? Everyone knew about Snowden and assumed it was Snowden. Yet Levison was told he can't tell anyone his system was being attacked or else.

    I want to know why "don't state the obvious" was a legitimate reason to use secret police powers. Go ahead and explain it, government: this is going to be hilarious.

    This new experimental power should be revoked. It didn't work out. The government proved it can't be trusted with the "you don't have 1st, 4th and 5th amendment rights whenever we say 'this is an important post-9/11 exception'" power. Seriously: does anyone have any doubts that the question isn't completely settled now?

    Is there still any controversy? Whether you're pro-Snowden or anti-Snowden, now that cat is out of the bag on this case, tell me how things might have gone differently if Snowden had found out that Lavabit was under attack.

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  15. Re:So what? by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are still people who think the "rape" charge against Julian Assange is completely unrelated to his work with Wikileaks, and that the UK would spend millions for surveillance on any ole' Joe facing questioning in Sweden. People are fucking stupid.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  16. Re:So what? by Noah+Haders · · Score: 2

    that's not really fighting back. that's just being a douche. fighting back is saying no.

  17. Re:So what? by Coren22 · · Score: 2

    That is because it is independant. If it was a way to get to Assange, why is it easier to go through Sweden and the UK instead of just the UK? The UK spent millions on surveillance because it was a high profile case of a person evading justice and they knew exactly where he was. Do you have evidence of other people pulling shit like this and just being let go, because "oh well they got away"? Do you expect everyone to just drop the rape charges because Assange refuses to present himself to be charged?

    I agree, people are stupid.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  18. Re:So what? by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Stuck without representation, they fired their lawyers mid case.

    I think that you are rewriting history. The government got the case moved to a court where their existing lawyers could not represent them (not admitted). Finding a new lawyer with the requisite security clearance in the time required wasn't possible.

    The government screwed them over with the assistance of the courts. How well would you do in court against the government without a lawyer?

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!