Government Surveillance

A lot more prevalent than we even imagine -- from Ars Technica:

Lavabit founder, under gag order, speaks out about shutdown decision
Ladar Levison took 10 years to build his company�and he's 32, making that most of his adult life. So when he shut down his encrypted e-mail service, Lavabit, without warning last week, it was like "putting a beloved pet to sleep."

"I was faced with the choice of watching it suffer or putting it to sleep quietly... it was very difficult," he told Democracy Now. "I had to pick between the lesser of two evils."

What was that other choice? "Unfortunately, I can't talk about that," Levison said during today's interview. "I would like to, believe me. I think that if the American people knew what our government was doing, they wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore. My hope is that the media can uncover what's going on without my assistance" and pressure Congress, he said. Together with Lavabit's own efforts working through the court system, he hopes it can "put a cap on what the government is entitled to in terms of our private communications."

The Lavabit shutdown came just a few weeks after a human rights activist revealed that she was contacted by National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden using the service. Within 24 hours after Levison announced he was shutting down, another online security company, Silent Circle, turned off its encrypted e-mail service, too.

Levison is speaking out about his decision to shut down the e-mail service in the hopes that it puts some pressure on Congress to change the laws that put him in this situation to begin with. Levison is legally barred from saying much about what the government demanded from him, but even with that broad gag order in place, he has refused to keep quiet. He's determined to at least let people know that the gag is there and let inferences be drawn.

Email is not secure -- it has never been.