I think it was to avoid being too obviously non-compliant.
Delivering the information this way could be construed as merely avoiding paper-costs while using formats the hide-bound government officers would be most familiar with (paper). It's somewhat facetious, but you can almost say it with a straight face, and a tech-illiterate judge might even accept it (especially if you did something just slightly more legible at 5 or 6 points).
It would be impossible for anyone to claim with a straight face they complied if they did as you described. Lavabit can claim they provided the keys in a fairly digestible format, and it bought them a few days worth of time.
Also, a single character at 4 pt surrounded by whitespace is much, much easier to decode.
Finally, most courts would charge you for delivering that much paper. For similar reasons, paying court fees in pennies is not accepted by all jurisdictions.
Delivering the information this way could be construed as merely avoiding paper-costs while using formats the hide-bound government officers would be most familiar with (paper). It's somewhat facetious, but you can almost say it with a straight face, and a tech-illiterate judge might even accept it (especially if you did something just slightly more legible at 5 or 6 points).
It would be impossible for anyone to claim with a straight face they complied if they did as you described. Lavabit can claim they provided the keys in a fairly digestible format, and it bought them a few days worth of time.
Also, a single character at 4 pt surrounded by whitespace is much, much easier to decode.
Finally, most courts would charge you for delivering that much paper. For similar reasons, paying court fees in pennies is not accepted by all jurisdictions.