I'll admit to glancing woefully at my purse-strings, then tightening them the last time I saw Lavabit's defense fund.
Between the EFF, ACLU, and other organizations I have suddenly have found great cause to donate to, I didn't feel like I was ready then.
Now that most of the full story is out, I read it, laughed out at Ladar's shear balls, and donated, deciding to skip some meals to make the budget meet if necessary.
I mean, that 4 point text ploy is straight out of a smart-ass-high-school-student's attempt to cram as much as possible on his "1 index card allowed" cram-sheet.
Within a month, Lavabit still had not complied to the court's satisfaction—in fact he handed over pages of the key typed in 4-point font—and Levison was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for each day he did not comply. On August 8, he shuttered Lavabit entirely, destroying the company’s servers.
In his defense, that was actually the government's idea in a way. The documents in the wired article ordered him to physically bring the keys to the court, and only if he was unable to, he could provide it as an electronic copy. He gave them something as stupid as what they asked for.
Godspeed Ladar. You're an inspiration to us all.