Unsealed Court Documents Show What Really Happened To Snowden's Secret Email Service

When Ladar Levison, the founder of Lavabit, the secure email service reportedly used by Edward Snowden, abruptly shut down his site earlier this summer, he set off a chain reaction of events.

Levison obliquely referred to both pressure from the government to hand over information, as well as the suppression of his First Amendment rights, and promised he'd fight whatever he was up against in court. It soon became clear that Levison had received a special court order from a government agency, and it likely came with a gag provision. When prosecutors asked for a readable, electronic copy of the user encryption keys, and a judge eventually ordered that Levison be fined $5,000 every day until he complied, Levison shut down the site for good. He's now trying to raise $96,000 for the ensuing battle in court.