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Comment by sz4kerto | Hacker News Reader

For me, personally, this is much more sad than Lavabit shutting down. Groklaw was an icon, it has huge significance.

I do not know whether this - i.e. shutting down - is a good strategy in general. It raises some awareness, it might cause some change ... but what if change does not happens? What other means of protest will we have?

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My take away from this is she is doing it for her own sanity more than an act of protest. She isn't doing this with the thought that her closing down the site will help spur conversation or change minds but that she can't continue to live a happy, digital life and that the site can't function as intended with the current surveillance. She views privacy and intimacy as a crucial part of both retaining your own humanity and also a part of having a frank and honest discussion.

But I have to say, this is getting to me too... more than I would think something like this would.

Not only that, but also that she is, to some extent, responsible for also safeguarding the privacy (or at least anonymity) of people who contact her, and she doesn't feel that's possible.

He's not shutting down to raise awareness, but because he feels unable to conduct the blog without feeling his communications with his readers are private.

she/her

She. I remain surprised by how often this mistake is made, given her name is on every page and the whole thing a few years back where someone accused her of being a fiction made up by IBM.

Also, I wonder what the other contributors she had given post privileges to think of this (I thought she had stepped down/away from some of the cases groklaw was covering).

Chilling.

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