“The U.S. government in July obtained a search warrant demanding that Edward Snowden’s e-mail provider, Lavabit, turn over the private SSL keys that protected all web traffic to the site, according to to newly unsealed documents,” Kevin Poulsen reports for Wired. “”
“The July 16 order came after Texas-based Lavabit refused to circumvent its own security systems to comply with earlier orders intended to monitor a particular Lavabit user’s metadata, defined as ‘information about each communication sent or received by the account, including the date and time of the communication, the method of communication, and the source and destination of the communication,'” Poulsen reports. “The name of the target is redacted from the unsealed records, but the offenses under investigation are listed as violations of the Espionage Act and theft of government property — the exact charges that have been filed against NSA whistleblower Snowden in the same Virginia court.”
“Lavabit founder Ladar Levison balked at the demand, and the government filed a motion to compel Lavabit to comply. Lavabit told the feds that the user had ‘enabled Lavabit’s encryption services, and thus Lavabit would not provide the requested information,’ the government wrote,” Poulsen reports. “In an interesting work-around, Levison complied the next day by turning over the private SSL keys as an 11 page printout in 4-point type. The government, not unreasonably, called the printout ‘illegible.'”
“The court ordered Levison to provide a more useful electronic copy. By August 5, Lavabit was still resisting the order, and the judge ordered that Levison would be fined $5,000 a day beginning August 6 until he handed over electronic copies of the keys,” Poulsen reports. “On August 8, Levison shuttered Lavabit, making any attempt at surveillance moot.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: September 11, 2001 broke the United States of America in more ways than too many seem to realize even today.
Perhaps someday, enough people will realize that the U.S. government’s myriad overreactions are significant, ongoing victories for the terrorists.
United States Constitution, Amendment IV:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Join The Electronic Frontier Foundation in calling for a full congressional investigation here.
[Attribution: The Next Web. Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
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