Government Harassment to Maintain Its Ability to Spy on Americans

Email encrypted email service Lavabit has shut down

The highly encrypted email service reportedly used by NSA leaker Edward Snowden has gone offline - and its administrator claims the company is legally barred from explaining why.

Yesterday it was joined by Silent Circle,

Silent Circle, a secure email service that provides customers with an encrypted way of sending messages, announced Thursday that it is shutting down only hours after a company offering a similar product said the same

Their crimes? They offered an encrypted email service that not even they could decipher, potentially putting them in violation of laws that supposedly gives the NSA sweeping authority to capture meta data on phone calls, read our texts and emails and track the websites we visit. It's not enough for the NSA to capture unencrypted communications, it is flexing its muscle to stop communications between parties who want to remain private.

Why does the US public put up with this? Is is certainly possible the public is willing to trade off the supposed security these programs bring versus the invasion of privacy.

It could also be because the American public has been lied to about the efficacy of these programs and the extent these programs violate their privacy. Lied to by The President, the Vice-President, James Clapper, head of DNI, Michael Hayden former head of NSA and CIA, Dianne Feinstein, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Nancy Pelosi, Keith Alexander, current head of the NSA and many many others.  Lied to.

Bill