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This is something I've thought about a lot. It's not entirely clear to me why Ed Snowden had an account on Lavabit in the first place. Surely he must have know

This is something I've thought about a lot. It's not entirely clear to me why Ed Snowden had an account on Lavabit in the first place. Surely he must have known that any companies he operated with were going to receive NSLs. Did he pick Ladar Levison in the same way he picked Greenwald? The DoJ went after Lavabit the day after Snowden went public. I don't know what Levison's reputation was prior to Snowden's leaks, nor do I know why Edward Snowden used Lavabit for an email address. My hypothesis at this point is that Snowden hired an email contractor who he knew would go to bat and antagonize the legal system, in a similar way to how he had seen Glenn Greenwalds earlier work, and knew he would argue relentlessly against NSA press cycle. The goal is, obviously, to make a lot of noise, get a lot of people to disagree with you, and then prove them wrong. How are we going to look back on the DoJ 5 years from now?

tptacek 12y ago
It's the largest intelligence leak in the history of the US, up there with the cryptanalysis of Enigma (which didn't leak). And the premise of your comment is that DoJ investigating it was somehow abusive. This is filter-bubble logic.
- sroerick 12y ago
  >And the premise of your comment is that DoJ investigating it was somehow abusive. Was it? I don't think I ever made that claim. I was just commenting that Snowden has demonstrated a prior knowledge of tactics that would be used against him, and perhaps selected Lavabit specifically because he knew Ladar Levison would raise holy hell. I compared it to his selection of Greenwald to report the stories. I actually think Levison's case is pretty weak, and I'm not sure I support him in his decision. I think he's clearly antagonistic and I don't think his case is a good one to support. But I can see it from his point of view, too. Having seen the Snowden revelations, I wouldn't want to help the NSA either. My guess, and this is totally unfounded in evidence, is that Snowden left a papertrail using his lavabit account, knowing full well that DoJ would investigate Levison.
jessaustin 12y ago
I'm not sure why this case would change anyone's views of DoJ. This isn't even close to the worst that they do and have done, on a regular basis.
- sroerick 12y ago
  That last line was maybe ill spoke. I just meant to illustrate that Snowden knew Levison would go to bat for him, and also that his transgressions against the DoJ would likely be forgiven by the public, in hindsight.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

tptacek 12y ago

It's the largest intelligence leak in the history of the US, up there with the cryptanalysis of Enigma (which didn't leak). And the premise of your comment is that DoJ investigating it was somehow abusive. This is filter-bubble logic.

sroerick 12y ago
>And the premise of your comment is that DoJ investigating it was somehow abusive. Was it? I don't think I ever made that claim. I was just commenting that Snowden has demonstrated a prior knowledge of tactics that would be used against him, and perhaps selected Lavabit specifically because he knew Ladar Levison would raise holy hell. I compared it to his selection of Greenwald to report the stories. I actually think Levison's case is pretty weak, and I'm not sure I support him in his decision. I think he's clearly antagonistic and I don't think his case is a good one to support. But I can see it from his point of view, too. Having seen the Snowden revelations, I wouldn't want to help the NSA either. My guess, and this is totally unfounded in evidence, is that Snowden left a papertrail using his lavabit account, knowing full well that DoJ would investigate Levison.

jessaustin 12y ago

I'm not sure why this case would change anyone's views of DoJ. This isn't even close to the worst that they do and have done, on a regular basis.

sroerick 12y ago
That last line was maybe ill spoke. I just meant to illustrate that Snowden knew Levison would go to bat for him, and also that his transgressions against the DoJ would likely be forgiven by the public, in hindsight.
deleted 12y ago
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