Gov’t accidentally publishes target of Lavabit probe: It’s Snowden

An unredacted version of an appeal document. (credit: 4th Circuit Court of Appeals via Wired)

In the summer of 2013, secure e-mail service Lavabit was ordered by a federal judge to provide real-time e-mail monitoring of one of its users. Rather than comply with the order, Levison shut down his entire company. He said what the government was seeking would have endangered the privacy of all of his 410,000 users.

Later, he did provide the private key as a lengthy printout in tiny type.

In court papers related to the Lavabit controversy, the target of the investigation was redacted, but it was widely assumed to be Edward Snowden. He was known to have used the service, and the charges against the target were espionage and theft of government property, the same charges Snowden faced.

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