Lavabit founder condemns David Cameron’s ‘insane’ plan to ban encryption

‘British prime minister David Cameron’s calls to stop tech firms from protecting their users’ information with encryption technology are “insane”, according to the man who once ran NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s secure email account.

Ladar Levison, founder of the encrypted email service Lavabit, made his comments as Cameron lobbied Barack Obama to press US technology companies to give law enforcement greater access to encrypted communications, following the deadly attack on the Paris office of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Before a joint press conference with Obama at the White House on Friday, Cameron said internet firms “have a social responsibility to fight the battle against terrorism”.

Encrypted messaging services have become increasingly popular in the wake of the Snowden revelations. The latest versions of Apple and Google’s mobile operating systems are encrypted by default. Other popular messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat also use encryption, and security experts are pushing for more.’

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