The current surveillance scandal by the NSA becomes more and more bizarre. The e-mail provider Lavabit which has granted users with encrypted messages, has abruptly shut down his service after it had probably been forced to relinquish encrypted information to authorities. As Ladar Levison, owner and operator of Lavabit LCC, explains on what is left of his web site,

“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.”

It is said that whistle-blower Edward Snowden had used the service when leaking his material to Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald six weeks ago. Silent Mail, the service of Silent Circle has shut down too. This is not only a nuisance anymore. If the current administration in the United States is involved in criminal acts (by the way, not only against the American people but rather against all of us), a first step is to impeach the president.

9 August 2013 @ 9:31 am.

Last modified August 9, 2013.