Lavabit: Edward Snowden email service loses contempt appeal

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a contempt of court ruling against Lavabit – the secure email service that was used by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Lavabit was found in contempt of court last year after refusing to comply with an FBI order to hand over encryption keys in an investigation thought to relate to Edward Snowden.

After that ruling, Lavabit’s owner Ladar Levison closed down the service.

Ladar Levison could appeal against this latest decision in a higher court.

“I haven’t read the court’s opinion, nor sought advice from lawyers on any possible legal strategy, so that is still pending,” he told news website Ars Technica.

Last June, the US government obtained a court order for Lavabit’s encryption keys in order to allow investigators to track the email traffic of an unnamed target, thought to be Edward Snowden, who had an email account with the service.

Just hours before a deadline to hand over the information expired, Ladar Levison provided the FBI with an 11-page printout listing the keys in tiny type, in effect making them unusable.

The court found Ladar Levison in contempt and the government told Lavabit to provide the keys in an acceptable industry standard electronic format within three days.

Ladar Levison did provide the information to the FBI by the new deadline but appealed against the court’s contempt ruling.

A judge sitting on the case at the appeals court upheld the ruling as he said Ladar Levison had never challenged the court order in the lower court.

Ladar Levison’s lawyer said he was disappointed with the ruling but said the court’s decision was to do with procedural issues and not the merits of the case.

“The court did not say the government’s actions in this case were legal,” said Ian Samuel.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been supportive of Ladar Levison, said in a statement: “We believe it’s clear that there are limits on the government’s power to coerce innocent service providers into its surveillance activities.”