Here's how bad it's become: Yesterday, two "secure" email service providers decided they'd rather close up shop than cooperate with the United Spooks of America.
First, Lavabits founder
Ladar Levison posted a notice to his 350,000 customers saying
he was shutting down the service, effectively immediately. His letter has since shot around the Internet thousands of times, but the salient bits are worth repeating.
In his farewell missive, Levison asserts:
I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what's going on -- the First Amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.
