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Joining Lavabit Et Al, Groklaw Shuts Down Because of NSA Dragnet
An anonymous reader was the first to write with news that Groklaw is shutting down: "There is now no shield from forced exposure. Nothing in that parenthetical thought list is terrorism-related, but no one can feel protected enough from forced exposure any more to say anything the least bit like that to anyone in an email, particularly from the U.S. out or to the U.S. in, but really anywhere. You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel. So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate." Why it's a big deal.
It was THE most important legal website on the internet covering SCO , Apple/Samsung Microsoft/Novell etc etc
The level of analysis and documenta on the site made it a unique tool and place to get information on litigation between the tech giants.
This is where we followed the SCO owns Linux war against Novell et al . This is a terrible loss for all because the truth and documents was out there and we all participated and learned from it. It is a terrible loss for who are curious about their world and the workings of the legal system.
I am in shock. I went there and spent thousands of hours on the site. I learned and owe the Lady in a Red Dress one hell of a lot.
Thanks PJ . Forever in your debt.
Ric
You estimate of Tor's privacy is higher than mine, and, evidently, PJ's.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
-- James Madison (4th US President)
Welcome to 2013, the terrerists are still winning without having to lift a finger.
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in -- and the West in general -- into an unbearable hell and a choking life."
-- Osama bin Laden, Al-Jazeera interview, (21 October 2001)
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Funny shit. I'm old enough to remember an age when the USA was better than the USSR because the USSR, (being a totalitarian communist dictatorship), had more people, per capita, in prisons, than we did. They taught us this in schools less than 30 years ago.
There are actually people who attempt to measure this in an objective way. The results are interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_index
freeexistence.org
It is perhaps coincidental that freedom indexes seem to track roughly with other prosperity indexes as far as the US is concerned, in that a couple of decades ago you could pretty much assume the US was right at the tip-top, but that ain't so true anymore.