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Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

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Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#51

Post by mhurron »

StavrosK wrote: post #26
filipmaertens wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he did was equally an act of heroism (in face of Internet history) and stupidity (in face of his own life). Perhaps, he should just have wiped and destroyed the disks, and have it "seemed like a system crash at a bad timing" caused it :)

Isn't it fucked up when someone suggests that someone's life might be at risk because of some data he had (and completely had the right to delete) and it doesn't sound utterly ridiculous? This is now the world we live in.

People 'suggest' the government is going to kill people all the time, it doesn't make it true. That is the world you live in. You do not live in a James Bond film.

This guy didn't risk his life. His livelihood perhaps, but not his life.

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#52

Post by StavrosK »

mhurron wrote: post #51
StavrosK wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it fucked up when someone suggests that someone's life might be at risk because of some data he had (and completely had the right to delete) and it doesn't sound utterly ridiculous? This is now the world we live in.

People 'suggest' the government is going to kill people all the time, it doesn't make it true. That is the world you live in. You do not live in a James Bond film. This guy didn't risk his life. His livelihood perhaps, but not his life.

Snowden's life is probably in danger, and Manning isn't having a swell time, just for coming out and saying that the US is involved in unsavory activities. Sure, this isn't at that level, but it's not inconceivable any more.

This isn't a James Bond film. It's 1984.

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#53

Post by icantthinkofone »

JakeStone wrote: post #49
ihsw wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't put it past the DOJ to conjure up claims that there are always investigations into every company at all times, so any destruction of property at any time could be construed as destruction of evidence. Then again I'm a bit more paranoid than most.

Jayzus. That would be as close as possible to actual implementation of the concept of 'thoughtcrime'. Thanks for the shiver.

What I thought you said, at first read, was "That would be close to impossible..." which would be a more correct statement.

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#54

Post by daraul »

ihsw wrote: post #48
nikcub wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why he destroyed it now is so that he doesn't face obstruction of justice charges later. He realized they were coming, one way or another. A lot of lawyers advise that the only and best time to destroy evidence is before it becomes evidence.

I wouldn't put it past the DOJ to conjure up claims that there are always investigations into every company at all times, so any destruction of property at any time could be construed as destruction of evidence. Then again I'm a bit more paranoid than most.

They've done it in the past, to the auditing firm involved in the Enron scandal. They actually indicted and convicted them of destroying audit records according to their standard procedures prior to them being investigated by the SEC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen_LLP_v._United_S...

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#55

Post by tbomb »

mhurron wrote: post #51
StavrosK wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it fucked up when someone suggests that someone's life might be at risk because of some data he had (and completely had the right to delete) and it doesn't sound utterly ridiculous? This is now the world we live in.

People 'suggest' the government is going to kill people all the time, it doesn't make it true. That is the world you live in. You do not live in a James Bond film. This guy didn't risk his life. His livelihood perhaps, but not his life.

he risked his life in in the way that he may be placed in jail for a while. I don't think anyone is suggesting that he may be killed over a destroyed server.

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#56

Post by gregd »

mknits wrote: post #9

It's a victory of NSA-US govt. over the efforts of EFF and similar organizations. We must continue this fight to safeguard our future. Here are two free and secure email providers who keep themselves up only by donations: 1. https://openmailbox.org 2. https://autistici.org

There's also: https://www.cotse.net/

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#58

Post by bhitov »

jonahx wrote: post #34

> Taken together, the closures signal that e-mails, even if they are encrypted, can be accessed by government authorities and that the only way to prevent turning over the data is to obliterate the servers that the data sits on. Can someone explain to me how this is possible? Or is this inaccurate?

I think it is inaccurate. The concerns of lavabit and silent circle seemed to be about unencrypted email.

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#59

Post by mrt0mat0 »

Torkild wrote: post #30
return0 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they weren't being prosecuted, how is that obstruction? How would they prove that it was "evidence"?

You're asking this of a government with a growing record of retroactively rewriting laws in its own favour?

woah! ex post facto laws are illegal according to the constitution... oh wait... they don't follow that thing anymore do they?

Re: Two Providers of Secure E-Mail Shut Down

#60

Post by eliasmacpherson »

mtgx wrote: post #45
eliasmacpherson wrote: post #36

A slashdot commenter put this up a few weeks ago, it's worthwhile viewing for an hour - you can get an idea of what the providers are going through. There's a good interview with an archive.org employee around who also received one, and tried to resist in his capacity as a librarian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C25EkdWLU1k

I remember that guy. I think he was the first to fight an NSL, and to make it so you can tell your lawyer about NSL's. He also tried to crowdfund a very privacy-oriented ISP a while ago, but he could only do it on IndieGoGo, and it was very new at the time, and I don't think he completed the goal. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57412225-281/this-internet...

The archive.org guy: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/what-...
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