Lavabit, reportedly Edward Snowden’s email service of choice, shuts down

It looks like Edward Snowden is going to have to find a new email service as the one he supposedly used — Lavabit — has abruptly closed its doors. The company’s owner, Ladar Levison, posted an open letter on the site today, saying, “I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit.” Levison also claimed to be unable to speak to the specifics surrounding the situation, stating that a Congressionally approved gag order prevented him from doing so. While Lavabit’s situation seems pretty dire, it might not be curtains just yet. In his message, Levison stated that he would take his fight to reinstate Lavabit to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. To read the missive in full, head on over to the source link below.

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Via: Boing Boing

Source: Lavabit

Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

Users of the extra secure and private email provider Lavabit are out of luck after the owner shut down the service on Thursday offering only a cryptic message as an explanation. Lavabit is the preferred email service provider of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and yes, this matters.

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The NSA Is Collecting Emails and Texts for Just Mentioning “Targets”

There’s a story in the New York Times today that details how the NSA hasn’t just been tracking communications to and from (potential) foreigners of interest—it’s actually tracking all emails and text messages that potentially mention these targets. That dragnet just got a lot wider. This is the actualization of the tired and at one time absurd "oops better not say bomb on email" jokes.

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That TOR Exploit Probably Wasn’t the NSA After All

That TOR Exploit Probably Wasn't the NSA After All

The plot has either thickened or thinned back out in the quest to discover who’s been hacking into the anonymous TOR network through a security vulnerability in Firefox. After claiming on Monday that it was the NSA, a team of security researchers now admit that they were, in fact, probably totally wrong.

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The TOR Project Tells Everyone to Stop Using Windows

The TOR Project Tells Everyone to Stop Using Windows

After startling news that someone—probably a government agency—was exploiting a vulnerability in Firefox to spy on its supposedly anonymous users, the TOR Project is now asking everyone to take a step back and stop using Windows. It’s not just this latest episode of snooping, though. Windows just isn’t a great operating system in terms of security in general, they say.

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What Should Be in the NSA Surveillance Reform Legislation?

What Should Be in the NSA Surveillance Reform Legislation?

Following a wave of polls showing a remarkable turn of public opinion, Congress has finally gotten serious about bringing limits, transparency and oversight to the NSA’s mass surveillance apparatus aimed at Americans.

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NSA Appears to Be Tracking the Anonymous Internet

NSA Appears to Be Tracking the Anonymous Internet

That custom-built malware that’s tracking down Tor network users? Turns out it might not be the FBI behind it after all. It looks like it might be the NSA.

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Verizon Wireless Allegedly Aided UK’s Tempora Eavesdropping Program

Verizon Wireless Allegedly Aided UKs Tempora Eavesdropping Program

Last month a string of highly classified documents were leaked by former CIA technical analyst Edward Snowden. Those documents revealed that the UK’s GCHQ was apparently tapping in to undersea fiber optic cables that go through the country for collecting data. At that time it was not known if any telecommunication companies were aiding the program, which is known as Tempora. According to German newspaper Süddeutsche, which claims to have received documents from none other than Edward Snowden, Verizon Wireless allegedly aided the GCHQ’s Tempora program.

Apart from Verizon, four small providers, BT and Vodafone have also been named in the report. The documents are said to be from 2009. Previous information leaked about Tempora reveals that the program is capable of intercepting some 600 million “telephone events” daily, apart from collecting petabytes of internet data. The companies mentioned in the report have declined to comment on this situation. Verizon is one of the biggest providers in the U.S., one can only imagine what it customers would think knowing that their provider is allegedly aiding UK’s eavesdropping efforts. The report claims that data collected through Tempora is shared between GCHQ and US’s very own National Security Agency.

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  • Verizon Wireless Allegedly Aided UK’s Tempora Eavesdropping Program original content from Ubergizmo.

        

    FBI Can Remotely Activate Android Smartphone And Laptop Mics, WSJ Reports

    speak-android-voice

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FBI employs a number of high-tech hacker tactics in its efforts to round up information on suspects, including the ability to remotely activate microphones on Android devices and notebook computers, according to one of its sources who is described as a “former U.S. official.” These and other tools are brought to bear in cases related to organized crime, counterterrorism or child pornography, according to the WSJ report.

    The tools it uses are both internally and externally sourced, with some coming from the private sector. Hacking at the FBI under court order has gradually increased, as law enforcement officials try to find ways to circumvent new communication tech that’s more resistant to traditional surveillance methods like wiretapping. The specifics of its methods are not generally brought to light in public, but a warrant from earlier this year revealed that one request involved using a computer’s built-in camera to take photos of a suspect without their knowledge. The request in that case was denied.

    According to the WSJ’s source, the FBI resorts to these tactics when they’re out of options, and “don’t have any other choice.” The tools used to gather the data are often installed remotely, using essentially phishing style links that injects essentially Trojan software when clicked by a suspect under surveillance. They can also be installed via physical access and a USB drive, the report says, and in all cases the FBI tries to ensure only “relevant data” are gathered by its hacking efforts, through the use of a screening team that checks for relevancy before handing information off to investigators working the case.

    The news that the FBI employs hacker tactics on occasion to gather data about potential suspects is not new, but the specifics of how it goes about it, and how it might be able to employ a user’s own hardware to record conversations remotely is definitely going to raise some eyebrows, especially in light of the attention now focused on digital rights and privacy thanks to the leaks around the NSA’s PRISM and XKeyscore programs. In theory, the devices could even be activated to eavesdrop on an in-person conversation with a potential suspect who doesn’t even own an Android device, perhaps from the pocket of a friend who does. PRISM reportedly involves a number of prominent Internet companies, and Xkeyscore seems to allow the U.S. security agency unprecedented access to information about emails, chat history and more, according to information leaked by former U.S. government security contractor Edward Snowden.

    In this case, it sounds like the FBI’s tools might involve Android and desktop PC malware, so Google wouldn’t need to be complicit for claims about using Android device mics remotely to be accurate. We’ve reached out to both the FBI and Google for comment, but have yet to hear back as of press time.

    The Daily Roundup for 08.01.2013

    DNP The Daily RoundUp

    You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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