It absolutely is. There can be a duty to resist. People get killed based solely on data collected from signals intercepts. More people and companies should take the brave stand Lavabit did, rather than be complicit in oppression and state-sponsored killings.
While I dislike the NSA as much as practically everyone else here, I’m not aware of any state-sponsored killings done by the NSA. Sure, the executive branch has ordered killings, but the branch is so large, lumping it all together makes no sense. The NSA, FCC, FTC, EPA, etc. don’t kill.
Now, you should resist, yes, but most people don’t. It takes a very brave soul to resist and hope the Supreme Court will side with you. Civil disobedience generally also requires vast public support who would rally behind you. Practically everyone knows Rosa Parks, but polls have shown only about 60% of Americans have even heard of Snowden. Public support is a fraction of that.
Cisco’s executives would also end up being involved in some massive lawsuits if they shut down the company to take a stand. Lavabit, OTOH, was multiple orders of magnitude smaller than Cisco is, and they could afford the backlash. It also didn’t help that Lavabit catered to tech people who would understand why they shut down. Cisco, OTOH, is used by virtually every large business; many of the employees of which would not understand why they shut down.
Ah so they aren't killing anyone, they are just gathering the intel which uniquely enables other agencies to kill people, that's very different, got it
