Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down After Secret Court Battle

[Dr. Strange]

A nearly 10-year-old pro-privacy Texas e-mail service long used by NSA leaker Edward Snowden abruptly shut down today, alluding to a secret U.S. court battle that it’s been fighting for six weeks, and has so far lost.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/lavabit-snowden/

I've seen some people here mention that they use Lavabit. Well, not anymore.

http://lavabit.com/

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. There is no way to hide....if it is discovered...it can be hacked...

whoever controls the Internet has the keys to the castle. These "secret" sites only provide you a false sense of security. I have said it before and I will continue to say....there is NO privacy on the Internet.

[Rex]

2. They knew how to get the chalice of the Palace

long before people knew about the NSA.

[Purveyor]

3. And people who use backup services like carbonite think their files are 'secure', too!

[VanillaRhapsody]

5. The Internet is a giant party line

a lot on here will never remember those..

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

8. What's my phone number?

or email?

That is called privacy.

What the government is doing is Piracy.

[VanillaRhapsody]

11. that would be your IP address dude

there Is no privacy on the Internet. Its not like a phone call....everything is digital...its permanent period....there is no privacy on the Internet. Just ask Anthony Wiener!

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

13. Now you are talking nonesense.

I just demonstrated very easily that their IS privacy on the internet.

The real problem is the PIRACY.

[VanillaRhapsody]

15. No....and I suggest you educate yourself..

here I will help you get started:

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

17. zzzZZZzzz

What's my credit card number?

Since you can't answer that we have nothing further to debate.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

7. That is simply not true.

Just because a government can break the law, and force you to surrender your documents does not mean there is no privacy on the internet, it just means that the government is breaking the law.

What are we going to do about it is the real question.

[VanillaRhapsody]

9. there IS physically no privacy on the Internet...seriously dude..

the nature OF the Internet means there is no privacy on the Internet.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

12. That is a lie. We don't have privacy because we have PIRACY

what's my email?

[VanillaRhapsody]

14. No its not a lie....the internet IS not and has never been private...

If you don't think any hacker can get your email address....you are sadly misinformed. I happen to know a thing or two about how the internet works....been at it for a long time. There is no privacy on the Internet. Never was and I doubt it ever will be. Everything you do can be tracked to your IP address...which is the physical location of your computer on the Internet. Everything you do is sent in packets. Oh and encryption is only works as a deterrent.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

16. YES IT IS. If ANY HACKER could get my private information NO ONE would be doing business online

period.

Please do not try to lecture me with weak knowledge of the internet, I am a internet expert who has been working with it for almost 2 decades now and I am not fooled by myths or FUD tactics.

[VanillaRhapsody]

18. Oh you are an "expert"

I have a degree in web development and over 20 yrs experience.....If you think the Internet is private...you just proved you are not an
"expert"

01110110 01100001 01101110 01101001 01101100 01101100 01100001 01110010 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110011 01101111 01100100 01111001

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

19. That's right

And I have already deconstructed some other clueless persons attempt to claim that the internet is inherently insecure or not private.

I will be happy to dig up that thread if need be.

That BS is all a lot of baloney to fool people into thinking nothing can be done about the government piracy.

[Purveyor]

4. "to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years"...

From the article:

“I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit,” wrote owner Ladar Levison. “After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations.”

Interesting, indeed.

[grasswire]

6. they got Levison

A horse's head in the bed?

A black spot on a piece of paper?

An exploding car?

Or what, I wonder?

[VanillaRhapsody]

10. the realization that his false sense of privacy was just an illusion perhaps?

[moondust]

20. It sucks.

I've had a Lavabit account for years and very few problems. Now this shit comes along and without warning they are gone. No e-mail service at all starting yesterday. They claimed they were upgrading their infrastructure and the server was still receiving e-mails during the process but nobody has been able to pick up their mail for two days now.

I'm still looking for a PRIVACY-ORIENTED mail provider if anybody has a suggestion.