CORRECTION: Edited title on email server shutdown and spelling corrections.
Lavabit, an encrypted email service provider, posted on its company website its decision to shut down after receiving a court order to allow the US government to have access to Lavabit's customer information. Earlier, the company was the subject of a federal investigation when NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden sent an email using a Lavabit address to invite media people to his press conference at Moscow Airport in July. Lavabit's move inspired Silent Circle, who followed suit and dropped Silent Email service. Silent Circle will still continue with its other communication platform services as it does not involve collect information.
According to a 2013 Cost of Data Breach Study by security software corporation Symantec, data breach in the US was at US$5.4 million, with the cost of each record compromised at $159. Global cost per compromised record is at $117. The costs were significantly lower compared to last year's, as the report identified the companies' reluctance to invest in more stringent security systems last year.
The Symantec study and the exit news may not share the same sentiments that the general public has regarding the protection of private information. However, the latest actions of Lavabit and Silent Circle clearly indicate the desire to uphold the Constitutional rights for and on behalf of the American people.
Lavabit LLC was formed by a group of programmers based in Texas in response to Gmail's account privacy concerns. They have a 35,000 customer base and offers storage up to eight gigabytes. Silent Circle is co-founded by Mike Janke, Jon Callas, Vincent Moscaritolo, and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) creator Phil Zimmermann.
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