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Now we know why Lavabit founder Ladar Levison decided to shut down his secure email service, used by Edward Snowden. At the time, all Levison would say was that he didn't want to "become complicit in crimes against American people." According to court documents unsealed on Wednesday, Levison was ordered to turn over the virtual keys to the communications of every single one of the service's users, so that the NSA could monitor the emails of one of his customers, presumed to be Snowden himself.

According to the New York Times, the story begins with the business card of an FBI agent, left on his doorstep, almost immediately after the NSA leaks began to roll out:

When Mr. Levison called the F.B.I. agent who had left the business card, the agent seemed interested in learning how Lavabit worked and what tools would be necessary to eavesdrop on an encrypted e-mail account

The FBI, it turns out, was interested in collecting as much as possible on a single user of his service. That person is without a doubt Edward Snowden, although his name has been redacted from all of the court documents released today. While Levison has complied with orders concerning specific users in the past, the Snowden request was different. The FBI's demands only escalated as Levision began to fight the orders.