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Anonymous #1
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Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations
#18684862 - 08/09/13 09:31 PM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Lavabit
Quote:
My Fellow Users,
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. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.
What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.
This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.
Sincerely, Ladar Levison Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC
Defending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.
What does this mean for someone who may have been using their email account for illegal activities? Should I be concerned if I have a few messages here and there from a couple years ago alluding to some illegal transactions? The message that I quoted doesn't make me feel very good about the fact that I still have some of these emails in my inbox.
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lavod
Seal Whisperer


Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5,456
Loc: Over the rainbow
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: Anonymous #1]
#18686120 - 08/10/13 07:28 AM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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I was wondering what had happened. Ugh, there goes my main provider. But i would'nt worry too much as the way the first sentence is worded, it seems that mr. levison was given the option to close up or disclose private information to the man and thankfully chose the former. But you never know though, especially in this frightening current environment. I suggest using privnote for all questionable interactions in the future.
I notice that i am able to delete e-mails through my lavabit/thunderbird account. Can you not do the same? But maybe that does'nt matter much if anything was already compromised.
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Vitalux
Stranger from the next universe



Registered: 02/15/11
Posts: 2,695
Loc: Canada
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: Anonymous #1]
#18686174 - 08/10/13 07:46 AM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Anonymous said:
What does this mean for someone who may have been using their email account for illegal activities? Should I be concerned if I have a few messages here and there from a couple years ago alluding to some illegal transactions? The message that I quoted doesn't make me feel very good about the fact that I still have some of these emails in my inbox. 
Well...you can either do two things about it.
1. worry 
or
2. Not worry. 
I would suggest you only worry about it once the police break down your door and shoot you and or your dog. 
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Anonymous #1
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: Vitalux]
#18686590 - 08/10/13 10:29 AM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Yes, it would seem that after reading the first sentence that he did the honorable thing, but the key words I am concerned with are "suspend operations". What is going on during this time of suspension? Are accounts being searched for information? We aren't privy to knowing that information and I feel like if all was clear, he would have shut the site down permanently instead of suspending operations, but that is just my interpretation. I'm not even sure of the whole process, it just doesn't seem quite final yet, IMO.
I have not heard of Thunderbird before, but in the meantime, I am searching for a new email provider that has servers located outside of the US, preferably with encryption. So if anyone has any recommendations, get at me!
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danielx
whatup!


Registered: 10/13/08
Posts: 6,500
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: Anonymous #1]
#18686958 - 08/10/13 12:28 PM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Anonymous said: I am concerned with are "suspend operations". What is going on during this time of suspension? Are accounts being searched for information?
Id hope most people doing anything ultra illegal are smart enough to encrypt their communications with PGP, in which case all they would have is scrambled jargon. Sadly many people aren't to keen on security.
This is a PSA folks, take the extra step to manually encrypt your correspondence, or realize that everything you write can be read.
-------------------- Long live kratom
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Anonymous #1
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: danielx]
#18687058 - 08/10/13 01:00 PM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Yeah, definitely a lesson learned. Luckily I'm pretty sure I used privnote for most of the emails. Its just a select few that I'm uncertain about and that is what has got me on edge.
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something cool
meandering

Registered: 01/30/12
Posts: 1,306
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: Vitalux]
#18690014 - 08/11/13 03:38 AM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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It's so very peculiar how if someone shoots a police dog, a dog who's job is to be put in risky situations, the cops become enraged and sorrowful, acting as if a human being was just killed... but when cops come across someone else's dog, they just pop it dead without a second thought. Seems like a behavioral trait that only a real shit person could possibly have.
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Bacchus
Lurker



Registered: 10/10/06
Posts: 914
Loc: ::1
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Re: Lavabit Email Provider Suspends Operations [Re: something cool]
#18725475 - 08/18/13 11:52 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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My understanding of Lavabit's technology is that your messages are stored in an encrypted form, and the private key needed to decrypt said emails is protected by your password (did you use a strong one?). Ladar and his staff (and by extension any law enforcement agencies that have compelled Lavabit with a court order) can only read your emails if they lie in wait for you to log in.
That's why he called it quits. Lavabit is absolutely unable to comply with court orders from here on out.
And as a side note, Lavabit didn't provide any real security anyway... The overwhelming majority of mail servers do not support TLS-style encryption, so your messages were almost certainly sent in the clear (unless you were jusing PGP [which would negate the need for Lavabit])
--------------------
Living on a no-Flash diet is way easier than you think. Give it a shot.
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