Wikipedia says Lavabit complied with previous search orders. They just chose to take a stand. They did not create a secure communications platform. Any email s

Wikipedia says Lavabit complied with previous search orders. They just chose to take a stand. They did not create a secure communications platform. Any email sent to a user would be delivered plaintext (SMTP), and nothing stopped Lavabit from intercepting that info other than them saying so. This is why (afaik) Silent Circle stopped offering their "secure" email system, because Lavabit made it clear that such a service is not really secure. As a side note, Snowden also used Cryptocat so the fact he used Lavabit isn't necessarily a positive endorsement.