Reporter Claims To Expose Groklaw Editor's Identity
Interest is swirling around the Linux-advocacy site Groklaw.net, following the weekend posting of an article by Linux Business News, which purports to uncover information about the identity of site editor Pamela Jones.
Jones has long cultivated her anonymity in the face of curiosity about her background. Interest in Jones has risen along with the profile of Groklaw, which has pointedly tracked SCO's ongoing Linux litigation with IBM, Novell, and Red Hat. While Jones has given interviews to several trade publications and Web sites, they have typically been conducted via e-mail, and her picture hasn't appeared. In postings, Jones has said she has a paralegal background.
The Linux Business News article claims that Jones is in fact a 61-year-old who lives in a garden apartment in Hartsdale, NY. The article publishes Jones's purported address and phone number, along with her religious affiliation.
Slashdot has a thread on the controversy.
Groklaw responds.
Why would you publish the home address and home telephone number of a writer? What does her religious background have to do with her analysis of legal briefs? This is clearly an attempt to intimidate her. I hope she will pursue whatever legal remedies apply in such situations.
I have never understood the controversy over pseudonymous writers. If writers such as Mark Twain and others wish to separate their everyday life from their writing, why shouldn’t that be respected?
No comments:
Post a Comment