AMITIAE - Tuesday 20 August 2013
RIP Groklaw - When you want to know more: Well, now you can't |
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By Graham K. Rogers
It is no surprise to see some readjustments taking place even as the governments themselves tighten the noose and make full use of legislation to pressurise those who come within their grasp, in some cases exceeding the remit of the laws they claim to be using. This is no protection. Some with long memories (or access to good libraries) may want to examine history. What we see today is the start of a decline. Already we have seen the voluntary closure of a couple of email services whose operators were concerned that, were they not to cease operations, the government (in these cases, the US) would impose controls on them that they could not legally avoid. As a measure of the ridiculousness of the current situation, one of them, Lavabit, was threatened with prosecution for the very act of shutting down. Other services must be complying with the barely legal requests for information - under FISA and other laws - from the security services, or in some cases, just handing over information to keep the NSA, FBI and other agencies sweet.
RIP, Groklaw: When you want to know more.
Well, now you can't. . . .
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. |
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