Were Lavabit and Silent Circle actually secure and did Snowden help to close this loophole in the NSA catch all meta data store.

http://boingboing.net/2013/08/08/lavabit-email-service-snowden.html

http://www.slashgear.com/silent-circle-shuts-down-mail-service-following-lavabit-to-avoid-government-hassle-08293296/