3 ms·

Secrets, lies and Snowden's email: why I was forced to shut down Lavabit

62 points by room271 12y ago

mcv 12y ago
Surely there should be something you can do to challenge an unconstitutional court order, or when you think an unusual court order is interpreted in an unconstitutional way. But how do you challenge that? Can you challenge a court order at all?
- magpi3 12y ago
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation appears to have done exactly that in this case: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-has-lavabits-back-contempt-court-appeal https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-has-lavabits-back-con...
mililani 12y ago
I'm surprised this isn't getting more traction on Hacker News. It's blowing up on r/technology. Pretty surprising to see the mum reaction here. I was hoping to get some more insight into the legal aspects of what happened here. Also, the U.S. is devolving into a tyranny. Sadly, Plato surmised that all democracies eventually devolve into tyrannies. Seems to be coming true.
- eevilspock 12y ago
  Sadly, I think hacker news is dominated by the profit motive over the motive of a common good. Even the libertarians here seem to be focused on the liberty to become wealthy free of regulation. I expect this comment to get down voted, even though it is a legit criticism, just as my questioning the morality of ad-supported websites[1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7733713 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7733713
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    This article seems to be leaving out a lot of details which have been discussed many times previously on this site. Mainly with not complying with the specific narrow warrants for individual users, dumbing down the encryption and allowing user emails to be decrypted by admins in the first place, faxing over encryption keys vs. supplying them digitally, and other antagonizing things which required the government to broaden their request(s) for access.
- icelancer 12y ago
  Hacker News automatically downvotes/weighs down anything to do with the NSA, Snowden, and other keywords. I guess it's just not that important.

62 points by room271 12y ago

mcv 12y ago

Surely there should be something you can do to challenge an unconstitutional court order, or when you think an unusual court order is interpreted in an unconstitutional way. But how do you challenge that? Can you challenge a court order at all?

magpi3 12y ago
The Electronic Frontier Foundation appears to have done exactly that in this case: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-has-lavabits-back-contempt-court-appeal https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-has-lavabits-back-con...

mililani 12y ago

I'm surprised this isn't getting more traction on Hacker News. It's blowing up on r/technology. Pretty surprising to see the mum reaction here. I was hoping to get some more insight into the legal aspects of what happened here. Also, the U.S. is devolving into a tyranny. Sadly, Plato surmised that all democracies eventually devolve into tyrannies. Seems to be coming true.

eevilspock 12y ago
Sadly, I think hacker news is dominated by the profit motive over the motive of a common good. Even the libertarians here seem to be focused on the liberty to become wealthy free of regulation. I expect this comment to get down voted, even though it is a legit criticism, just as my questioning the morality of ad-supported websites[1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7733713 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7733713
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  This article seems to be leaving out a lot of details which have been discussed many times previously on this site. Mainly with not complying with the specific narrow warrants for individual users, dumbing down the encryption and allowing user emails to be decrypted by admins in the first place, faxing over encryption keys vs. supplying them digitally, and other antagonizing things which required the government to broaden their request(s) for access.
icelancer 12y ago
Hacker News automatically downvotes/weighs down anything to do with the NSA, Snowden, and other keywords. I guess it's just not that important.