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Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

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Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#41

Post by pyre »

dictum wrote: post #14
conductor wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is happening in the USA with its famous constitution, then well, I think the end of this statement can be easily converted just to _any_country_.

A country cannot be on the United States' good side without bending to its will. Also, the governments of other countries would love to have a peek on whatever intel the NSA has regarding their enemies. So, if the US wants your data, they have great diplomatic resources to compel a country to hand it (read: CIA). I'm speculating as I don't know if there is a precedent of the US requesting data from another country us…

The US doesn't need a 'secret warrant' to ask for information from another country. They don't really need a warrant at all. They just ask for it. IIRC, even the NSA isn't legally bound to avoid spying on American citizens when they are out of the country.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#42

Post by betterunix »

lvs wrote: post #22
conductor wrote: post #15

If you are looking for an alternative to Lavabit, try RiseUp [1]. There is a nice read in their "About Us" page [2] [1] - https://riseup.net/en [2] - https://help.riseup.net/en/about-us Added: Though, it is based in Seattle, so what happened to Lavabit can happen to them too, unfortuneately.

All of these centralized services (such as the one you linked) are susceptible to the same strong-arm tactics if they're based in the US.

Nothing special about the USA. Hushmail is a Canadian company and they were strong-armed by the DEA.

Do not let some third party hold your keys, do not use some applet to decrypt your mail. This is public key encryption 101.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#43

Post by jmomo »

jlgreco wrote: post #24
oleganza wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would risk their own life to do that for "the good of many"? People like Snowden are exceptions, not a rule, because the guns are out there pointed to everyone. Why don't we instead of asking individual heroes to fight a killing machine called "the state", do that: 1. Acknowledge the evil of the state. 2. Find practical non-violent ways to boycott it. E.g. blacklist personally everyone involved in violent aggress…

I doubt, even in our current situation, that Jury members would become targets if they refused to convict.

It would never get that far. The "jury selection" process weeds out average people and leaves only the most boring, dumb, and/or untruthful jurors.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#44

Post by sillysaurus »

betterunix wrote: post #40
mililani wrote: post #35

So, since HN is filled with smart engineers, how should one build a sustainable, fully encrypted email service untouchable by the Feds?

It already exists. Use PGP, send messages through anonymous remailers. If you cannot use anonymous remailers, post messages to Usenet in alt.anonymous.messages using Tor. If not Tor, then via a proxy server. If none of the above, just make sure you are not doing it from your house. If even that is impossible, know that traffic analysis will be possible. Why is this something that needs to be repeated to the technical…

Tor is funded directly by the US govt. Something like 60-80% of their annual million-dollar budget.

Maybe being superstitious isn't helpful, but in this instance, I'm not so sure Tor is able to be relied on.

A proxy server won't work for the same reason a personal server wouldn't work. It's tied to you eventually, either through a paper trail or a packet trail.

Oh, and drop the condescending attitude, okay?

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#45

Post by cdjk »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #17

So for those of you wondering about Jury nullification, the way it would work in this case is that Levison would reveal that the NSA was hounding him with NSL letters, they would charge him with violating the terms of the NSL and the jury would acquit him anyway. I hope we can get a case like that to move that aspect of the conversation forward. It helped get bad laws off the books in the civil rights cases and it wo…

I have a hunch that mentioning jury nullification as a potential juror will get you removed from the pool pretty quickly.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#46

Post by grote »

conductor wrote: post #15

If you are looking for an alternative to Lavabit, try RiseUp [1]. There is a nice read in their "About Us" page [2] [1] - https://riseup.net/en [2] - https://help.riseup.net/en/about-us Added: Though, it is based in Seattle, so what happened to Lavabit can happen to them too, unfortuneately.

There's also https://mykolab.com hosted in Switzerland. What's more: It is 100% Open Source, so you can host it yourself decentrally.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#47

Post by kevincrane »

betterunix wrote: post #40
mililani wrote: post #35

So, since HN is filled with smart engineers, how should one build a sustainable, fully encrypted email service untouchable by the Feds?

It already exists. Use PGP, send messages through anonymous remailers. If you cannot use anonymous remailers, post messages to Usenet in alt.anonymous.messages using Tor. If not Tor, then via a proxy server. If none of the above, just make sure you are not doing it from your house. If even that is impossible, know that traffic analysis will be possible. Why is this something that needs to be repeated to the technical…

I assume he means one that is user-friendly enough for regular people to actually use. There's tons of ways to be totally anonymous, just very few that are practical for my day-to-day use.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#48

Post by pmarsh »

betterunix wrote: post #40
mililani wrote: post #35

So, since HN is filled with smart engineers, how should one build a sustainable, fully encrypted email service untouchable by the Feds?

It already exists. Use PGP, send messages through anonymous remailers. If you cannot use anonymous remailers, post messages to Usenet in alt.anonymous.messages using Tor. If not Tor, then via a proxy server. If none of the above, just make sure you are not doing it from your house. If even that is impossible, know that traffic analysis will be possible. Why is this something that needs to be repeated to the technical…

I think HN people are looking for a profitable business solution for those not technically inclined to know but want to be able email anonymously.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#49

Post by grecy »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #17

So for those of you wondering about Jury nullification, the way it would work in this case is that Levison would reveal that the NSA was hounding him with NSL letters, they would charge him with violating the terms of the NSL and the jury would acquit him anyway. I hope we can get a case like that to move that aspect of the conversation forward. It helped get bad laws off the books in the civil rights cases and it wo…

> hey would charge him with violating the terms of the NSL and the jury would acquit him anyway.

You're assuming he would have a trial with a jury.

I think that's a big assumption.

Re: Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle

#50

Post by drpancake »

betterunix wrote: post #40
mililani wrote: post #35

So, since HN is filled with smart engineers, how should one build a sustainable, fully encrypted email service untouchable by the Feds?

It already exists. Use PGP, send messages through anonymous remailers. If you cannot use anonymous remailers, post messages to Usenet in alt.anonymous.messages using Tor. If not Tor, then via a proxy server. If none of the above, just make sure you are not doing it from your house. If even that is impossible, know that traffic analysis will be possible. Why is this something that needs to be repeated to the technical…

The measures you describe are not exactly trivial.
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