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Another US based website has closed its doors. Groklaw has decided to shut down operations.

Now that I know that ensuring privacy online is impossible. I find myself unable to write.” — Pamela Jones, Groklaw founder. Here’s her farewell post.

 


 

groklaw-logoIs it possible we are, for the first time, witnessing a “backing away” from the Internet since it was introduced?

Pamela Jones, Groklaw founder thinks so and writes; “But for me, the Internet is over.””My personal decision is to get off of the Internet to the degree it’s possible. I’m just an ordinary person. But I really know, after all my research and some serious thinking things through, that I can’t stay online personally without losing my humanness, now that I know that ensuring privacy online is impossible.”

It seems to me that the US government is unexpectedly destroying a market that most US based companies rely on to grow their business and profit – for the sake of national security.

First to leave was Lavabit on August 9, 2013, and owner Ladar Levison writes; “This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.”
Interestingly, the US Government responded by threatening him with criminal charges.

Lavabit, and now Groklaw, a technology legal news website – what’s next?

What about Canada?

Additional reading:
Groklaw last post before shutting down
The New Yorker: NSA and it’s targets
TechDirt: Feds threaten to arrest Lavabit founder