14 lines
1.7 KiB
YAML
14 lines
1.7 KiB
YAML
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---
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en: &base
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title: Why is it not recommended to choose a US-based service?
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description: >
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Services based in the United States are not recommended because of the country’s surveillance programs, use of [National Security Letters](https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters/faq) (NSLs) and accompanying gag orders, which forbid the recipient from talking about the request. This combination allows the government to [secretly force](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/08/more_on_the_nsa.html) companies to grant complete access to customer data and transform the service into a tool of mass surveillance.
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An example of this is [Lavabit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit#Suspension_and_gag_order) – a discontinued secure email service created by Ladar Levison. The FBI [requested](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nzz888/lavabit-founder-ladar-levison-discusses-his-federal-battle-for-privacy) Snowden’s records after finding out that he used the service. Since Lavabit did not keep logs and email content was stored encrypted, the FBI served a subpoena (with a gag order) for the service’s SSL keys. Having the SSL keys would allow them to access communications (both metadata and unencrypted content) in real time for all of Lavabit’s customers, not just Snowden's.
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Ultimately, Levison turned over the SSL keys and [shut down](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/20/why-did-lavabit-shut-down-snowden-email) the service at the same time. The US government then [threatened Levison with arrest](http://www.cnbc.com/id/100962389),
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saying that shutting down the service was a violation of the court order.
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it:
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<<: *base
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---
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