Democracy Now Exclusive: Owner of Snowden's Email Service on Why He Closed Lavabit Rather Than Comply With Gov't

AMY GOODMAN: Glenn Greenwald also wrote, "What is particularly creepy about the Lavabit self-shutdown is that the company is gagged by law even from discussing the legal challenges it has mounted and the court proceeding it has engaged. In other words, the American owner of the company believes his Constitutional rights and those of his customers are being violated by the US Government, but he is not allowed to talk about it."

Greenwald goes on to write, quote, "Just as is true for people who receive National Security Letters under the Patriot Act, Lavabit has been told [that] they would face serious criminal sanctions if they publicly discuss what is being done to their company."

LADAR LEVISON: Well, just to add one thing to Greenwald's comments, I mean, there's information that I can't even share with my lawyer, let alone with the American public. So if we're talking about secrecy, you know, it's really been taken to the extreme. And I think it's really being used by the current administration to cover up tactics that they may be ashamed of.

Glenn Greenwald: Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies

Lavabit's Ladar Levison: 'If You Knew What I Know About Email, You Might Not Use It'

(Forbes) - Lavabit was created in 2004, in response to the Patriot Act, says Levison. He and friends from Southern Methodist University decided to create an email service by geeks for geeks. Levison was concerned that the FBI could send a company a national security letter (NSL) that would force them to turn over information about a customer without going through a court first. "I wanted to put myself in the position of not having information to turn over," he said. "I didn't want to be put in the position of compromising people's privacy without due process."