Digging personal information, not.

Posted Apr 11, 2011 5:31 UTC (Mon) by eru (subscriber, #2753)
In reply to: It was fun... by foobarinator
Parent article: Groklaw shutting down in May

PJ liked to run hatchet jobs on anyone they saw as an enemy of their cause, digging personal information and trying to smear them charges of guilt by association.

I have been following Groklaw since the beginning (admittedly less frequently lately, but daily or more often in the early years, when it seriouosly looked like SCO will bring Linux down), and I don't recall PJ ever having dug up actual personal information about anyone. She did try to find out about business connections, current and prior employers, and public comments, which is stuff that is very relevant in judging the expertise and biases of the characters in the drama. But I don't think those can be considered personal information in this context.

By contrast, to see the worst example of the kind of digging the opposite side did, look up the Maureen O'Gara case in Google. One link here. http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/infrastructure/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163104408.

Digging personal information, not.

Posted Apr 11, 2011 17:25 UTC (Mon) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75) [Link]

I don't recall PJ ever having dug up actual personal information about anyone.

PJ didn't just refuse to look up other people's personal information. She was very careful to redact personal information from the documents she was citing, even though in many cases the original document was available for anyone who really wanted to know. She bent over backward to protect other people's privacy, which is what you'd hope for- but sadly too rarely see- from somebody who wanted her own privacy respected.