The website at the centre of controversy following the death of a teenage girl who killed herself after apparently enduring months of online bullying has promised to introduce a “bullying/harassment” button and to investigate any reports of abusive behaviour within 24 hours.

Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer, applauded Lavabit’s decision, pointing out that its self-destruction was made possible because it had no shareholders to answer to. “Could you imagine what would happen if Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page decided to shut down Facebook or Google rather than answer National Security Letters? They couldn’t. They would be fired,” Mr. Schneier wrote on his blog. “When the small companies can no longer operate, it’s another step in the consolidation of the surveillance society.”

Khalil Shreateh found a vulnerability in Facebook.com and, due to miscommunication, was not awarded a bounty for his work. Let us all send a message to security researchers across the world and say that we appreciate the efforts they make for the good of everyone.

The state that is building such a formidable apparatus of surveillance will do its best to prevent journalists from reporting on it. Most journalists can see that. But I wonder how many have truly understood the absolute threat to journalism implicit in the idea of total surveillance, when or if it comes – and, increasingly, it looks like “when”.