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Lavabit didn't actually have the information in a format that was readable. In order to get it, they needed to change the way their system operated to decrypt t

Lavabit didn't actually have the information in a format that was readable. In order to get it, they needed to change the way their system operated to decrypt the information the next time a particular user logged in. If one can force a person to modify the source code running on his servers, why can't one force a person to modify a binary distributed to clients? From reading the arguments in this case, it's not clear to me that the judges would have been impressed by that distinction. Their focus was on whether Lavabit had the technical capability to provide the information the government demanded. In both cases, the answer is yes. We won't know the actual answer until this has been litigated. If it has and I've missed it, I'd love to see the case in question.

danielweber 12y ago
If Levison said "I don't know how to get that information and I don't even have it" then the DOJ might have bought it and it might have been over. But once he established that he owned the information, then it was either get it out himself, or let the DOJ go through and get the information themselves. IANAL.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  That works until the government analysts look at the system and see that you could get the information and then a court finds that you perjured yourself as "beyond reasonable doubt" you did know how to get the information. Then you're looking at the same position you had before just from the inside of a prison instead.
  - danielweber 12y ago
    To be sure, Levinson should have gotten competent legal counsel long before this all started. (He knew he was going to have this fight eventually, but he had to scramble for a lawyer when this specific request came in.) And that counsel would have advised him exactly what he could have and should have revealed, and how to comply with previous requests. His complying with prior orders surely weakened any attempt to say "but I can't get that information!"
  - rhizome 12y ago
    "Reasonable doubt" is not even close to the standard required for perjury.
    - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
      Go on, educate me.

danielweber 12y ago

If Levison said "I don't know how to get that information and I don't even have it" then the DOJ might have bought it and it might have been over. But once he established that he owned the information, then it was either get it out himself, or let the DOJ go through and get the information themselves. IANAL.

pbhjpbhj 12y ago
That works until the government analysts look at the system and see that you could get the information and then a court finds that you perjured yourself as "beyond reasonable doubt" you did know how to get the information. Then you're looking at the same position you had before just from the inside of a prison instead.
- danielweber 12y ago
  To be sure, Levinson should have gotten competent legal counsel long before this all started. (He knew he was going to have this fight eventually, but he had to scramble for a lawyer when this specific request came in.) And that counsel would have advised him exactly what he could have and should have revealed, and how to comply with previous requests. His complying with prior orders surely weakened any attempt to say "but I can't get that information!"
- rhizome 12y ago
  "Reasonable doubt" is not even close to the standard required for perjury.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    Go on, educate me.