Edward Snowden’s E-Mail Provider Defied FBI Demands to Turn Over Crypto Keys, Documents Show

[Newsjock]

Source: Wired

The U.S. government in July obtained a search warrant demanding that Edward Snowden’s e-mail provider, Lavabit, turn over the private SSL keys that protected all web traffic to the site, according to to newly unsealed documents.

The July 16 order came after Texas-based Lavabit refused to circumvent its own security systems to comply with earlier orders intended to monitor a particular Lavabit user’s metadata, defined as “information about each communication sent or received by the account, including the date and time of the communication, the method of communication, and the source and destination of the communication.”

... Lavabit founder Ladar Levison went to court to fight the demand on August 1, in a closed-door hearing before Claude M. Hilton, Senior U. S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. ... Hilton ruled for the government. ... In an interesting work-around, Levison complied the next day by turning over the private SSL keys as an 11 page printout in 4-point type. The government, not unreasonably, called the printout “illegible.”

... The court ordered Levison to provide a more useful electronic copy. By August 5, Lavabit was still resisting the order, and the judge ordered that Levison would be fined $5,000 a day beginning August 6 until he handed over electronic copies of the keys.


Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/10/lavabit_unsealed/

[MADem]

1. I think most people figured this out, even before the details were unsealed....

I have learned a new term today....a "pen register" order.....

The records in the case, which is now being argued at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, were unsealed today by a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. They confirm much of what had been suspected about the conflict between the pro-privacy e-mail company and the federal government, which led to Lavabit voluntarily closing in August rather than compromise the security it promised users.

The filings show that Lavabit was served on June 28 with a so-called “pen register” order requiring it to record, and provide the government with, the e-mail “from” and “to” lines on every e-mail, as well as the IP address used to access the mailbox. Because they provide only metadata, pen register orders can be obtained without “probable cause” that the target has committed a crime.

[msanthrope]

3. Pen registers have been settled law since 1979....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_v._Maryland

[MADem]

5. I understood the concept, just not the technical term!

A pen register is an electronic device that records all numbers called from a particular telephone line. The term has come to include any device or program that performs similar functions to an original pen register, including programs monitoring Internet communications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_register

[msanthrope]

9. I highly reccommend "The Wire." It will greatly increase both your technical knowledge and

provide entertainment. Pen registers feature prominently in the first season.

Not for the easily offended....

[MADem]

13. I am embarrassed to confess to you that I watched most if not every episode of that show.

Who knew Dominic West was a Brit....!

Again, I appreciated the concept, but for some reason, the "term" pen registers never stuck!

[Hotler]

4. ........

Bravo for Lavait for giving "The Man" the finger.

[msanthrope]

6. But they didn't give the man the finger--they decided to comply with the government's request after

their first round in court. You should read the whole article.

[Hotler]

8. Thank you. n/t

[MADem]

14. They put that finger in a naughty place, and then up their own nose.....

They'll have to hope for a strong immune system....

[msanthrope]

2. Interesting--the government originally only wanted Snowden's info, but when Lavasoft

refused, and pulled some chicanery, they opened themselves not only to criminal contempt but to having a far more reaching order apply.

What an idiot--had he complied with the legally-requested pen-register of June 10th, for Snowden's info, he would have been fine. Eventually, he agreed to give up on Snowden-

By this point, Levison was evidently willing to comply with the original order, and modify his code to intercept the metadata on one user. But the government was no longer interested.

[Cha]

7. Thanks for that msanthrope..

[msanthrope]

10. You're welcome! nt

[DeSwiss]

11. Four point type:

- K&R!!!

[KittyWampus]

12. are those words or grayscale?