Lavabit Founder Says He Had ‘Obligation’ to Shut Service
I am more concerned about this:<p>"Lavabit had complied with 'narrowly tailored' court orders for user information on at least two dozen occasions in the past"<p>In other words Lavabit is not any better than Hushmail.  Lavabit did not base its security on cryptography, it based on it trusting the people who worked for the company.  Cryptography was just a side show, just like with Hushmail, because Lavabit could get the plaintexts whenever someone working there wanted (or whenever they were compelled to do so by a government, criminal organization, etc.).