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Owner of Lavabit Faces $10K Fine For Protecting His Users From Federal Spying

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S

Shambles

Member
Article posted from DailyTech

Mr. Levison had a client whose name today is well known -- Edward Snowden. It is perhaps unsurprising that a man who was smart enough to dupe supposed computer espionage experts into giving up their logins would be savvy enough to find a well encrypted email service to protect his work while he prepared to blow the lid off the Obama administration's unprecedented campaign of spying.

In the aftermath, one of the Snowden reports carelessly showed his email -- revealing he had a Lavabit address. Now President Obama and his bipartisan backers had a new victim to sink the teeth of the judicial system into.

Mr. Levison was ordered not just to hand over Mr. Snowden's encryption keys, but the keys of all of his users -- every single one.

Mr. Levison was faced with a tough choice. He could give the government the keys, which federal officials could potentially use to conduct corporate espionage on behalf of their campaign donors without the victims or public ever knowing. That was choice A. Or he could defy the order and face imprisonment under the provision of 50 USC § 1861/18 USC § 2703 (which define the federal government's rights to unconstitutional seizures) and 50 USC § 1881a (which defines the punishment for exercising ones Constitutional rights and refusing to comply to said seizures). That was choice B.

Instead he opted for choice C -- to act in civil disobedience while being careful not to directly defy the legal statutes of the USA PATRIOT Act. He allegedly ducked out his back door when he first saw federal agents coming to his home, denying them a chance to deliver a subpoena.

The Obama administration was outraged at that refusal. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) briefly considered seeking his imprisonment, according to sources. But after Mr. Levison collected $100,000 USD in donations to support a legal defense, the DOJ declined to seek prison time for Mr. Levison's acts of civil disobedience. Instead it opted to just punish Mr. Levison with the financial penalty stated in the original contempt order -- a fine of $10,000 USD.

It held Mr. Levison in contempt of court and authorized the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to install malware on Mr. Levison's servers -- R -- and fine him $5,000 for every day he did not turn over his customers' encryption keys.

Mr. Levison exercised his Constitutional rights and waited two days, before defiantly delivering a printout of the keys printed in size 4 font. But by then he'd already shut down his business and purged his servers, leaving nothing for the feds to collect.

Mr. Levison stated in a brief release, "[I refuse] to become complicit in crimes against the American people."
Click to expand...

Mock and lock if old. More info at the link.
 
R

remist

Member
Wow. Good for him. Hopefully the donations will be enough to cover the penalty as well as any attorney fees. The DOJ under Obama really has no shame. I understand how they might have the probable cause to subpoena Snowden's email, but why would a judge sign a warrant for access to every single user of this service.
 
2

2MF

Member
Between this and drone attacks alone, it's really sad that Obama is what passes for a liberal these days.
 
R

remist

Member
After doing a little googling it seems they are using "pen register/trap and trace" laws that were previously exclusively used to get outgoing and incoming phone numbers from telecom companies; to get around wiretap warrants that require probable cause. A "trap and trace" warrant requires only "a certification by the applicant that the information likely to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency." and they've been expanded to allow interception of internet traffic. It's really bullshit that they don't require probable cause.

I really don't understand how this isn't an unreasonable search or seizure.
 
A

arglebargle

Member
SUPREME1 said:
I opened up outlook, typed about a dozen characters, highlighted them, set them to size 4 font... and lulzed so heartily.

Gangsta shit.
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ha i did the same thing in word.

infuriating that the obama doj does shit like this. great that people occasionally stand up to it. i love the sneaking out the back. sounds like he had planned for this day.
 
S

Somnid

Member
remist said:
After doing a little googling it seems they are using "pen register/trap and trace" laws that were previously exclusively used to get outgoing and incoming phone numbers from telecom companies; to get around wiretap warrants that require probable cause. A "trap and trace" warrant requires only "a certification by the applicant that the information likely to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency." and they've been expanded to allow interception of internet traffic. It's really bullshit that they don't require probable cause.

I really don't understand how this isn't an unreasonable search or seizure.
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It might be but it sounds like if they imprisoned him he would have to take it to a regular civilian court and have someone legally call their ass on it.
 
B

Burli

Pringo
SIqlwta.jpg
 
R

remist

Member
They seem to be relying on Smith v. Maryland that "pen registers" aren't constitutional "searches" within the meaning of the 4th amendment. But Smith v. Maryland was in regards to dialed telephone numbers.
Given a pen register's limited capabilities, therefore, petitioner's argument that its installation and use constituted a "search" necessarily rests upon a claim that he had a "legitimate expectation of privacy" regarding the numbers he dialed on his phone.

This claim must be rejected. First, we doubt that people in general entertain any actual expectation of privacy in the numbers they dial. All telephone users realize that they must "convey" phone numbers to the telephone company, since it is through telephone company switching equipment that their calls are completed. All subscribers realize, moreover, that the phone company has facilities for making permanent records of the numbers they dial, for they see a list of their long-distance (toll) calls on their monthly bills. In fact, pen registers and similar devices are routinely used by telephone companies "for the purposes of checking billing operations, detecting fraud, and preventing violations of law."
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Surely the people using Lavabit had a legitimate expectation of privacy in regards to the content of their internet traffic, especially considering the nature of the services provided. And in no way is having the encryption keys for every single user analogous to the limited capabilities of the pen register SCOTUS ruled on in Smith v. Maryland.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Good on him. Dude's a hero.
Man, make a movie of this shit, I'd watch it.

I really hope he wrote "Fuck you" in the memo of the check, too.
 
O

onadesertedisland

Member
M

Mudkips

Banned
Decades ago I had a history teacher who often said "If someone comes up to you and says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." run away.".

Our government is corrupt and broken.
 
J

Jenga

Banned
timetokill said:
Good on him. Dude's a hero.
Man, make a movie of this shit, I'd watch it.
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it'd be great

I picture some white old men getting together to order some IT Gov dudes to threaten the dude, and then the white young dude who owns lavabit sends an email that says no

directed by wes anderson
 
O

OrlanisWorks

Banned
I like his moves. I can totally see this becoming a Hollywood action film.


I really dislike this whole situation. It is really terrible when practices like this peformed by the government has probably been nothing unique or unusual. it doesn't seem like a search for terrorists.

*approval nod*
 
T

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
So since he purged the data, is the government still after him?

Are there no other encrypted email services that are not within the USA's jurisdiction?
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
Why are some of y'all praising a guy who defied government orders? The government is only trying to protect us, and this guy stymied the government from doing their job.

If your sarcasm detector didn't go off, it's broken
 
J

Jenga

Banned
perfectchaos007 said:
Why are some of y'all praising a guy who defied government orders? The government is only trying to protect us, and this guy stymied the government from doing their job.

If your sarcasm detector didn't go off, it's broken
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rip ron paul


why didn't we listen
 
M

malyce

Member
Movies like Elysium, Equilibrium, Hunger Games, In Time etc.. that's what our future is gonna be like isn't it?
 
R

remist

Member
In regards to this articles accusation that the Lavabit Owner was forced to hand over the encryption keys for all his users and not just Snowden. After reading the government's brief, it seems like they left out the context that the SSL key was the same for every user.

Throughout this brief, the government will refer to "SSL keys." Based on the government's knowledge, Lavabit had a separate SSL key for different application layer protocols offered by the service, but the key was the same for every user of each particular protocol. Because any particular user might use every protocol offered by Lavabit, all of the SSL keys were necessary to decrypt one particular user's communications.
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They also fail to disclose that the warrant only allowed log-in information and the date, time, and duration of email transmissions for Snowden's account and the government was ordered to take steps in order to ensure no content related information was intercepted and to ensure Snowden's account was the only one affected.

I'm a pretty hardcore civil libertarian, but this kind of stuff happens way to often in these kind of stories and it just makes people who care about these kinds of things look stupid.
 
R

Roastbeef

Banned
HK-47 said:
Our future isn't gonna be a shitty dystopian movie. It'll be a great one
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nah, brazil seems pretty spot on, as far as the future goes

yes, i think brazil is a shitty movie. it has some nice satirical elements in it, but in the end it's basically a collage of mediocre sketches featuring a main character who is makes Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film seem charismatic
 
S

Slayven

Member
Jenga said:
it'd be great

I picture some white old men getting together to order some IT Gov dudes to threaten the dude, and then the white young dude who owns lavabit sends an email that says no

directed by wes anderson
Click to expand...

Haha, you are killing me. Will Cumberbatch be in this one?
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
remist said:
They also fail to disclose that the warrant only allowed log-in information and the date, time, and duration of email transmissions for Snowden's account and the government was ordered to take steps in order to ensure no content related information was intercepted and to ensure Snowden's account was the only one affected.
Click to expand...

And the wives and ex girlfriends of the investigators, right?

I mean, if you can't trust the government who can you trust? After all, they know what they're doing.
 
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