Groklaw Shuts Down Over Big Government Spying

Groklaw.net has been a staple of the Linux and Open Source Software community for at least 10 years. It and Pamela Jones not only followed legal issues important to the community, but at times actually discovered many interesting and news making tidbits. There have been times that Groklaw itself became news and today is one of those times. Friend to Linux users everywhere, Pamela Jones, has announced the closure of Groklaw.net due to the oppressive and unconstitutional surveillance of the American people by the United States Government.

Groklaw main claim to fame was its in-depth and award-winning coverage of the SCO vs Linux lawsuits. PJ passed the everyday reigns to others a couple of years ago, but later returned to take up the Android case. But today comes the devastating news that Groklaw is no more. With almost audible tears in her words she wrote:

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.

She continued by saying she had failed at her main desire to show the world that there was "beauty and safety in the rule of law, that civilization actually depends on it," but now she doesn't even believe that anymore. Can you see now why big expensive government can only consume and destroy its host? Like the fictitious Blob of yesteryear movies, it only lives to grow bigger and stronger. And the bigger it gets, the more it fears extermination and assures it survival by any means necessary. One of the latest means terrorizing the public is complete and total surveillance of every communication bouncing around the world. And Groklaw is just the latest casualty.

As Jones said, "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 US out or to the US 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."

That's exactly what a surveillance state does to its citizens. No one feels safe or free anymore. Humans act differently when they know they are being watched and as such are inhibited from being totally honest and open. You have to be careful. You never know which words will end up on the "list" this week. The US Government turned on its citizens on September 11, 2001 and we've all become enemies of the state. Instead of setting its sights on the enemy, it (collectively) made all human beings the enemy - including We the People.

For Jones, "the Internet is over," but you can not escape. They track your very location with those smartphones and tablets you can't put down. They can track you by the GPS in your car and turn it off to stop you in your tracks. They log your IP addresses and websites visited. Cameras are on every street corner, shop, and public vehicle. They are collecting, searching, and archiving every word you say and type. They've given themselves authority to do anything to anyone anywhere. America is deceased, replaced by something straight out of our nightmares.

She concludes, "So this is the last Groklaw article. I won't turn on comments. Thank you for all you've done. I will never forget you and our work together. I hope you'll remember me too. I'm sorry I can't overcome these feelings, but I yam what I yam, and I tried, but I can't." Thanks, PJ, for all the fish.