Redaction error reveals FBI did target Lavabit to spy on Edward Snowden

Court-ordered release of Lavabit case files finally reveals Snowden was target of action that shuttered secure and private email service

Samuel Gibbs

A redaction oversight by the US government has finally confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s targeting of secure email service Lavabit was used specifically to spy on Edward Snowden.

Ladar Levison, creator of the email service, which was founded on a basis of private communications secured by encryption and had 410,000 users, was served a sealed order in 2013 forcing him to aid the FBI in its surveillance of Snowden.