Bangalore: The encrypted e-mail service used by Edward Snowden, NSA’s whistle blower and U.S. fugitive, has shut down its servers, apparently following the government pressure.

Lavabit, the email service founded in 2004 by Texas-based programmers was owned and operated by Ladar Levison. Post shut-down, Levison has expressed his apathy in the form of a newsletter on the Lavabit website’s home page. “I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations”, quoted Levison showcasing the integrity he holds for the privacy of his users rather than complying with the U.S. Government’s intention to access his customer’s data.

He further expressed his regret on not being able to state clear facts about the company’s shut-down, due to the helpless situation he’s currently in with his country’s constitution. “I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise”, Levison wrote.

In a country like U.S. where freedom of right is given top prominence to its citizens, this news shockingly prove the other side. The NSA and the U.S. government are on spying spree to collect every possible surveillance data they can get on their citizens. In reference to some of Snowden’s leaked documents, top internet titans like Google Inc, Microsoft Corp etc., have appeared to be compelled to show their co-operation to these intelligence authorities by compromising the private data of their users.

“Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren't fighting for our interests the same way,” was Edward Snowden’s reply to the Guardian Columnist Glenn Greenwald, and said that the decision taken by Lavabit Founder was ‘inspiring’.

Meanwhile, Levison stated the company has begun to prepare paperwork required to fight a long legal battle in the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia. “This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would strongly  recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States,” Levison concluded in his newsletter.