Later on Thursday, an executive with a better-known provider of secure email said his company had also shut down thatservice. Jon Callas, co-founder of Silent Circle Inc, said on Twitter and in a blog post that Silent Circle had ended Silent Mail.
"We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now," Mr Callas wrote on a blog addressed to customers.
Silent Circle, co-founded by the PGP cryptography inventor Phil Zimmermann, will continue to offer secure texting and secure phone calls, but email is harder to keep truly private, Mr Callas wrote.
Mr Snowden has been charged with espionage but was granted asylum by Russia, prompting US President Barack Obama to scrap a planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Lavabit's statement suggested a gag order was in place, and lawyers said that could accompany any one of a wide range of demands for information. The government could be seeking unencrypted versions of Mr Snowden's email correspondence, other information about him, the technical means to decrypt his future emails or those of other customers, or basic information on all of Lavabit's hundreds of thousands of users.
Edited by Bonnie Malkin
"We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now," Mr Callas wrote on a blog addressed to customers.
Silent Circle, co-founded by the PGP cryptography inventor Phil Zimmermann, will continue to offer secure texting and secure phone calls, but email is harder to keep truly private, Mr Callas wrote.
Mr Snowden has been charged with espionage but was granted asylum by Russia, prompting US President Barack Obama to scrap a planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Lavabit's statement suggested a gag order was in place, and lawyers said that could accompany any one of a wide range of demands for information. The government could be seeking unencrypted versions of Mr Snowden's email correspondence, other information about him, the technical means to decrypt his future emails or those of other customers, or basic information on all of Lavabit's hundreds of thousands of users.
Edited by Bonnie Malkin