Citizen Loses Business in Fight Against Government Spying
There is a wide variety of people who are adopting a patriotic stance against the overreach of the new American tyrannical government in their own ways. Circumstances and fate cast us all in different roles but those who love liberty gladly meet those challenges. Those who despise tyranny stand up in the ways which the conscience demands and are grateful for the opportunity.
One of those individuals is Ladar Levison, founder and owner of the now defunct Lavabit LLC. Lavabit was a provider of internet services which opened its doors in 2004. They were a niche company, catering to customers who desired enhanced security and privacy protection. They offered encrypted email and messaging services, as well as secure web access and other services.
When the Federal government began an investigation into some limited client records, it quickly expanded into what Levison viewed as an indiscriminate data harvesting, beyond the scope which had been directed under a court order. Levison was forced to make a decision between continuing to operate his business and compromising his principles and the relationship he had with his customers. On August 8th, 2013, Mr. Levison chose to act in the best interest of his customers and his conscience and shut his doors.
Mr. Levison issued a statement today, regarding his continuing legal battle with the Federal government and his eventual goal of having his case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his statement, Mr. Levison explained the series of events which brought him to where he is today. He detailed that, “During an investigation into several Lavabit user accounts, the federal government had demanded both unfettered access to all user communications and a copy of the Lavabit encryption keys used to secure web, instant message and email traffic.
A motion to quash the search warrant was denied by Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (Notably Judge Hilton served on the FISA Court from 2000 through 2007) Judge Hilton subsequently issued a $5,000 per day contempt of court citation thus forcing Lavabit to surrender their encryption keys. As the owner and operator of Lavabit, Ladar Levison then made the difficult decision to suspend operations and “limit the damage to user’s 4th amendment right to privacy.”
Lavabit maintains that the government had no legal basis for demanding its confidential information, namely passwords, encryption keys and source code. They further maintain that providing such information to the federal government would allow investigators to access sensitive information including passwords, credit card transactions, email messages and instant messages.
The government would have also been able to detect and record IP addresses, thereby allowing them to track and record the physical location of users as they accessed Lavabit’s services.
This access far exceeded the authority given to investigators by the pen trap and trace laws enacted by Congress. Under the law the government only had the legal right to collect metadata associated with the accounts under investigation.
Mr. Levison felt that providing such access to the government would have been in direct conflict with the promise of privacy that Lavabit made with its users and “would have violated the 4th amendment rights of people not involved with an investigation.”
Mr. Levison also felt that by providing access to the Lavabit network without being able to audit the information being collected would be an “unforgivable breach of the sacred trust between a service provider and its users.
In fact the FBI agents even admitted their intention to collect passwords in transit so they could access emails protected by Lavabit’s encrypted storage feature.” This was in stark contrast to the claims of DOJ attorneys who maintained that only the metadata authorized by the court order would be collected.
Mr. Levison also stated that “I simply couldn’t operate Lavabit while my lawyers appealed the demand for our [Lavabit’s] encryption keys without the government agreeing to provide the transparency demanded by my conscience. The ethical implications ultimately prompted my decision to suspend the [Lavabit] service.”
Levison said, “I was afraid a precedent would be set that would allow our government to continue violating the intellectual property rights of American internet service providers and the privacy of honest citizens.”
Mr. Levison continued by saying “people using my service trusted me to safeguard their online identities and protect their information. I simply could not betray that trust.”
In closing, Levison stated, “If the Obama administration feels compelled to continue violating the privacy rights of the masses just so they can conduct surveillance on the few then he should at least ask Congress for laws providing that authority instead of using the courts to force businesses into secretly becoming complicit in crimes against the American people.”
Ladar Levison continues his fight and it is far from over. He makes himself available to the media and can be reached at the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund at (703) 291-1999.
And as an anecdotal point, it is widely believed that the target of the inquiry which prompted the invasive actions of the United States government was also someone who has spoken out against America’s new world order regime. A guy named Edward Snowden.
The bullying tactics of the United States government continue unabated against patriotic Americans everywhere who have the courage to stand up for what is right and to say no to despotism. It is not easy and it is expensive to fight back. The government is relentless and they have the Federal Reserve and taxpayers for financing. But it is right and it is necessary. There is no alternative. We salute Mr. Ladar Levison and wish him well in his struggle against the beast from DC.
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