Groklaw

Groklaw was a website and online magazine dedicated to the aim to shed light on the principles of free software legally; In this context, the patentability of software is discussed regularly. Launched by the American paralegal Pamela Jones project quickly became popular when it began shortly after the start of the project to investigate the legal battle against SCO Linux over alleged copyright infringements in the source code of the operating system Linux.

The focus is on Groklaw in searching and compiling facts. Since the members of the project consist of programmers, lawyers and paralegals and the project is open at the same time, the project provides a bridge between people with technical knowledge on the one hand and the people with a legal understanding on the other side.

2007, the project with the Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit the Free Software Foundation " to build a fruitful source for legal and technical information for developers, lawyers, professors and historians " was awarded, in 2008 it received a " recognition" of the Prix Ars Electronica in the Digital Communities category.

After Jones first announced cease work on the site at the May 16, 2011, she hands over the reins to Mark Webbink, former chief lawyer of Red Hat. As part of this change Groklaw should also be more open to the community by students and professors can publish posts, for example.

On August 20, 2013 appeared on the website, an article will be announced in the that Groklaw is closed. The reason the increasing Internet surveillance is mentioned and referenced, also drawing on the earlier decision of Lavabit its closure.