Lavar Levison, head of the anonymous email service Lavabits, has closed his company down after 10 years rather than submit to an FBI demand that he turn over customer passwords.
In a statement he wrote:
“I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot….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.” Levison concludes: “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.” More details here [BJS]
