Lawyers for Lavabit founder: judges may dismiss civil liberties concerns

Civil rights lawyers expressed concern that judges reviewing the contempt of court case brought against Lavabit, an e-mail service that was used by the National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, were dismissing privacy concerns raised by the case as a “red herring” that had been “blown out of proportion”.

The founder of Lavabit, Ladar Levison, is challenging a contempt of court order brought against him when he initially refused to hand over the encryption keys to his secure email service. The case is now with the fourth US circuit court of appeals in Richmond (VA). Judges Roger Gregory, Paul Niemeyer and Steven Agee presided over a hearing on Jan 28. A decision is expected within 45 days. If Levison’s appeal is rejected, he will be held in contempt of court and it will be unlikely that the legal issues surrounding the case will be resolved.