A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a contempt of court citation against an email service provider used by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, AP reported. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Dallas-based Lavabit Inc. and its owner, Ladar Levinson, were barred from raising key issues on appeal that they did not pursue in the district court. U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton sanctioned Levinson for initially refusing to give federal authorities the technical assistance they needed to track the encrypted email of a target of a criminal investigation. The appeals court's opinion did not name the target. Levinson also did not mention Snowden or any particular investigation when he closed his company last August. In a cryptic message, he said only that he would rather go out of business than "become complicit in crimes against the American people." -- SPA 23:41 LOCAL TIME 20:41 GMT تغريد
