Dotcom's Mega looks to fill email security gap left by Lavabit

Kim Dotcom's "privacy company" Mega is developing secure email services to run on its entirely non-US-based server network as intense pressure from US authorities forces other providers to close.

Last week, Lavabit, which counted NSA leaker Edward Snowdon as a user, and Silent Circle both closed. Lavabit's owner, Ladar Levison, said he was shutting it down to avoid becoming "complicit in crimes against the American people".

Last week, Mega chief executive Vikram Kumar told ZDNet that the company was being asked to deliver secure email and voice services. In the wake of the closures, he expanded on his plans. Kumar said work is in progress, building off the end-to-end encryption and contacts functionality already working for documents in Mega.