Another Website Shuttered Over Government Surveillance Concerns

[NorthCarolina]

Groklaw Founder Shutters Respected Legal News Site Over Government Surveillance Concerns

In an emotional blog post published after midnight, Pamela Jones, the creator of Groklaw, wrote that she is unable to run her website and expect its community to contribute if the U.S. government's spies are looking over her shoulder and reading her correspondence.

"They tell us that if you send or receive an email from outside the US, it will be read," she wrote. "If it's encrypted, they keep it for five years, presumably in the hopes of tech advancing to be able to decrypt it against your will and without your knowledge. Groklaw has readers all over the world. I'm not a political person, by choice, and I must say, researching the latest developments convinced me of one thing -- I am right to avoid it."

Groklaw is just the latest site to shutter over concerns that government surveillance will interfere with its business. Lavabit and Silent Circle, two encrypted email services, closed two weeks ago, afraid that they could no longer protect people's private messages from the wide-reaching National Security Agency's online surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden in May. Jones cited the closure of Lavabit, thought to have been Snowden's preferred email, as a motivation behind her decision.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/groklaw-shut-down_n_3784703.html

Remember when we led the fight against the worlds authoritarian powers? What caused us to lose our way, and to become that which we despised not so very long ago?

[villager]

1. And sadly, even at a self-styled "Underground" like this, the dutiful troops of apology

...will rhetorically fall in line to defend in the indefensible.

[Xithras]

2. Groklaw! No!

For those of us who follow the legal fights in the technology realm (Apple v. Samsung, SCO v. IBM, etc), patent suits, the DMCA, and legal issues surounding open source software, open standards, and DRM in general, Groklaw has been a valuable resource for more than a decade. The site is an outgrowth of the Linux open source community, and is built on the ideals that our legal processes should be as open and available as our source code. PJ hasn't directly edited the site in several years, but the new editors have done a good job keeping it relevant and useful since her departure.

This is a damned shame.

[snappyturtle]

3. Haunting. I perceive this from P. Jones to be particularly worrisome:

.....and I must say, researching the latest developments convinced me of one thing -- I am right to avoid it."

I don't blame her for feeling this way in light of the dragnet of the
"hops" revealed in the NSA data collection process. She could very
well be drawn into a precarious situation. OTOH, thinking like this
could morph into censorship of everyday internet conversation. imho

[GliderGuider]

4. This means they're winning, you know.

Crap.

[NorthCarolina]

5. With the apparent high level of dissent against NSA domestic spying here on DU,

if the ad hominem attacks against dissenters and myriad blue links fail to turn that tide, will DU then become a target for shuttering?

[Hydra]

6. One day, DU will be shut down

But the founders had to have known that could happen when they decided to build this place as a bastion against Bush lies and policies, giving us a place to learn and fight back.

Who knew we'd be fighting the same fight over a decade later?

[Katashi_itto]

7. We'll have the same crowd cheering it on. Because "our" side is doing it...

[JI7]

10. why would they shut this down, the NSA was around when they created it

they kept it through the Bush years.

[Hydra]

11. Anything that gains a little too much influence

Will end up on the chopping block. As long as they think it's useful to have DU available to catapult propaganda, it will be here. As soon as they decide "they've had their fun" it will be all over.

The Bush Admin's policy was "We don't give a fuck what you think. Try to stop us."

The Obama Admin's policy is "Shhh....the adults are taking care of it...*WHAM!!!*"

[JI7]

12. so you think NSA will force DU to shut down at some point ? when do you think that will be ?

[Hydra]

13. No idea

But I'm sensing something new in this latest propaganda blitz that makes me uneasy. They're trying to criminalize information and thinking. Just discussing Snowden's leaks or having access to that leaked info may soon be a crime.

I don't know what their timeline is, but I smell attempted crackdown coming. The NSA story didn't go away...will they try to make it?

[Blue State Bandit]

8. Staying home/disregarding local races in the 2010 mid-terms.

[snappyturtle]

9. Kick!