Lavabit Founder: FBI Said E-Mail Users Would Trust Government More Than Him

Refused to give FBI agents full access to users e-mail accounts

The FBI fined, threatened, and forced Ladar Levison to suspend the operation of his secure email service, Lavabit LLC, telling the entrepreneur that his users were more likely to trust the government than him.

This year, the government demanded that Levison turn over his private SSL (secure socket layer) so that the FBI could investigate a single user account allegedly belonging to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

h/t Johnny Longtorso