February 21, 2014 | Author Pater Tenebrarum
Lavabit's Founder Ladar Levison Speaks Out
Readers recall perhaps what happened when secure e-mail service Lavabit was approached about providing access to its customers' e-mails because the NSA suspected that Edward Snowden kept an e-mail account there. The owner of the company decided to rather shut down the whole service and wind up his company than giving the government access.
Obviously he is the rare case of a man who would rather give up his source of income than his principles. He describes himself as a 'strict constitutionalist' and as such has evidently a lot more respect for the fourth amendment (and many other legal niceties) than the government.
A friend pointed out to us that there is a video of him speaking at the 2013 Liberty Political Action Conference, where he talks about what the surveillance state means for US technology companies and whether one can still trust them.
Of course anyone who hasn't been fast asleep over the past decade knows already that many so-called American ideals (small things, such as freedom and the rule of law) have been thrown under the bus in the GWOT. Levison provides a chilling summary of the extent to which this situation has been allowed to progress. This is a rather sobering presentation, but well worth watching.
Source Acting-Man
