A Texas-based secure email service reportedly used by National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden says it is shutting down and can’t legally explain why.
In a cryptic note posted Thursday to the Lavabit website, owner Ladar Levison said the company is folding rather than becoming, in his words, “complicit in crimes against the American people.” Levison didn’t return a phone call from The Associated Press.
The post doesn’t elaborate, but Snowden’s disclosures have focused attention on how the U.S. government can secretly compel companies to hand over customer information and gag them from talking about it.
Lavabit’s information may be of interest to investigators chasing Snowden’s leaks. Public records show that someone going by “Ed Snowden” registered three addresses with the Dallas firm over the past four years.
(AP)
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This could end up being the interesting part of the whole affair. Snowden will be a footnote, but this could lead to major Supreme Court case.
If the government ordered them to close, and did not pay compensation, the case will end up in court since presumably a good deal of money is involved. If the government argues the Patriot Act “trumps” the Bill of Rights anti-taking clause, it guarantees a Supreme Court ruling in which the right (anti-taking) and left (anti-censorship) will be on the same side – meaning “anything goes.” Of course the government could quietly pay compensation, or they could “hard ball” and argue that an internet provider is liable if its system is used for criminal activity which would be a very big “hiddush”, with serious implications.
For fans of the legal system, it looks like a great case.