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Why is it not recommended to choose a US-based service?

Stormblood said:
Services based in the United States are not recommended because of the country’s surveillance programs, use of National Security Letters (NSLs) and accompanying gag orders, which forbid the recipient from talking about the request. This combination allows the government to secretly force companies to grant complete access to customer data and transform the service into a tool of mass surveillance.

An example of this is Lavabit – a discontinued secure email service created by Ladar Levison. The FBI requested Snowden’s records after finding out that he used the service. Since Lavabit did not keep logs and email content was stored encrypted, the FBI served a subpoena (with a gag order) for the service’s SSL keys. Having the SSL keys would allow them to access communications (both metadata and unencrypted content) in real time for all of Lavabit’s customers, not just Snowden's.

Ultimately, Levison turned over the SSL keys and shut down the service at the same time. The US government then threatened Levison with arrest, saying that shutting down the service was a violation of the court order.

Source: https://www.privacytools.io/

Related information:
Online Privacy Issues in US and UK based services
Proof that warrant canaries work based on the surespot example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit#Suspension_and_gag_order
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Mass_surveillance

NSA is the main reason for not recommending us based services specially when they are related to online privacy and security.
 
You're right, but many of the European countries do the same thing. The 5 eyes, or 7 eyes, or whatever it is. I think it's 5 real big ones, and 4 more smaller ones. Countries working together on spying on everyone.
 

Al Jilwah: Chapter IV

"It is my desire that all my followers unite in a bond of unity, lest those who are without prevail against them." - Satan

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