Pamela Jones

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Pamela Jones, commonly known as PJ, is the creator and editor of Groklaw, an award-winning website that covers legal news of interest to the free and open-source software community. Jones is an Open Source advocate who previously trained and worked as a paralegal.[1]

PJ's editorials have appeared in Linux Journal, LWN, LinuxWorld Magazine, Linux Today, and LinuxWorld.com. She also wrote a monthly opinion column for the UK print publication Linux User and Developer. She is one of the contributors to the book Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution.[2]

Contents

[edit] Grok Projects

[edit] Groklaw

Main article: Groklaw

Jones has a blog, called Groklaw, which covers open source legal issues, notably the SCO-Linux controversies. Her stated purpose for starting the blog can be found in the first interview she ever granted, for Linux Online, where she said:[1]

I started my blog just before the SCO case was filed. Originally, my purpose was just trying to learn how to blog, because an attorney and I were discussing the possibility of me doing some telecommuting work for him, including work on his blog. I had no knowledge of blogging, so I quickly got Radio, because he used it, and I put up one article to practice, which I never thought anyone in the world would ever see (ironically, about the Grokster decision and how I admired David Boies' Napster legal documents). I was just writing to the air. My thought then was to try to explain legal news stories as they came along. I was forever reading Slashdot comments about legal news and most of the comments would be way off, and I realized that there is a hunger for someone to explain what it all means, what the process is, how things play out, to people who aren't in the legal field.

Groklaw's Mission Statement says it is meant to be several things:[3]

It's an experiment, something not quite like anything that has been done before. It's primarily a working site, not a discussion forum. First, it's a journalistic enterprise, with interviews, research, and reporting of legal events important to the FOSS community.... Second, we are applying open-source principles to research to the extent that they apply.... Third, it's an antiFUD site.

Groklaw has covered the various lawsuits involving the SCO Group in detail but also covers general legal news of interest to the Free Software and Open Source community. The site has won numerous awards.[4]

[edit] Grokline

Jones also launched Grokline, a Unix ownership timeline project, in February 2004. The project was successful in finding, getting permission to publish, and publishing the USL v. BSDi settlement agreement, which had been kept secret by the parties. The revelation of this document was important in dispersing a cloud of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt the SCO group had placed over the settlement terms.

[edit] Grokdoc

Grokdoc's goal is to create a useful manual on basic tasks that new users will find simple and clear and easy to follow, using what they learn from their study.

[edit] PJ

Jones reveals very little personal information, as she considers it private and has expressed from the beginning a strong preference for avoiding fame. Here are the reasons she gave in the early days for using just her initials:[5]

I originally wanted to stay anonymous, in a sense, by just saying PJ. Eventually media attention and other factors made it impossible to remain just PJ but I would have if I could have. I have no desire to be famous, for one thing. And I have been creatively influenced by Scott McCloud's work. He points out in Understanding Comics (p. 45–51) in a section on iconic representation that people respond most strongly to a drawing of a character that simplifies to the point that anyone can identify with the character. I guess I was hoping for that effect. In other words, I was hoping people could assume whatever they wanted and just focus on what I said, rather than on who was saying it. For that reason, I chose PJ, because it could be anyone, either sex, any nationality, anyone and no one in particular. I wanted participation by anyone interested in the SCO story. No politics. Nothing extraneous. Just an effort to locate and provide evidence that could be useful. I knew the community could answer SCO, if they just knew what was needed. And they have.

[edit] Health issues

On February 10, 2007, Jones announced she was taking a break from editing Groklaw, due to undisclosed health problems,[6] although it has been speculated that it was also linked to a recent subpoena that the SCO Group claimed it was going to serve.[7] [8] Jones made a brief return to comment on IBM's request for Summary judgement on several issues versus SCO, but stated she was not fully recovered, and would not be returning full-time to Groklaw at the time. [1]

[edit] Media controversy

Jones is widely respected by journalists and people inside the Linux community. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wrote, "Jones has made her reputation as a top legal IT reporter from her work detailing the defects with SCO's case against IBM and Linux. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that her work has contributed enormously to everyone's coverage of SCO's cases." [9]

Her primary media critic, Maureen O'Gara, appears to have been a paid contractor for SCO. During the first week of May 2005, Maureen O'Gara, a writer for Linux Business News, wrote an exposé claiming to unmask Pamela Jones. Two weeks before O'Gara's publication, McBride said that SCO was investigating Pamela Jones' identity.[10] The article included alleged, but unverified, personal information about Jones,[11] including a photo of Jones' supposed house and purported addresses and telephone numbers for Jones and her mother.[12] After a flood of complaints to the publisher, lobbying of the site's advertisers, and claims of a denial-of-service attack launched against the Sys-Con domain,[13][14] Linux Business News' publisher Sys-Con issued a public apology,[15] and said they dropped O'Gara and her LinuxGram column. However, despite this assertion, O'Gara remained with Sys-Con; as of 2008, she is the Virtualization News Desk editor at Sys-Con Media, where she is described as "[o]ne of the most respected technology reporters in the business" and has her work published in multiple magazines owned by Sys-Con Media.[16] G2 Computer Intelligence, a news publication company owned by O'Gara,[11] appears in bankruptcy filings as a creditor of SCO Operations, a subsidiary of The SCO Group.[17]

SCO executives Darl McBride and Blake Stowell have also denigrated Jones and claimed that she works for IBM.[18] Jones has denied this allegation,[19] as did IBM in a court filing.[20] During an SCO conference call on April 13, 2005, McBride said, "The reality is the web site is full of misinformation, including the people who are actually running it" when talking about Groklaw, adding also "What I would say is that it is not what it is purported to be".[21]

[edit] Publications

  • Articles in Linux Journal, Linux World, Linux Today, LWN.
  • Monthly column in LinuxUser, a UK print publication.
  • Contributor to Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b "Interview with Pamela Jones, editor of Groklaw". Linux Online. 2003-07-31. http://www.linux.org/people/pj_groklaw.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-18. 
  2. ^ a b Chris Dibona; Danese Cooper, and Mark Stone (2005). Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0-596-00802-3. 
  3. ^ "Groklaw Mission Statement". 2007-01-29. http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=20040923045054130. Retrieved on 2007-02-18. 
  4. ^ See Groklaw for a list of the site's awards.
  5. ^ "SCO's 1Q 2005 Earnings Conference Call — transcript". Groklaw. 2005-04-18. http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20050414214437589. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.  PJ quotes this passage herself, and explains that she provided it to a Wikipedia editor in 2003.
  6. ^ "Health Break". Groklaw. 2007-02-10. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007021013564542#comments. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.  Pamela Jones' announcement.
  7. ^ "SCO Vs. Blogger". Forbes. 2007-02-13. http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/13/groklaw-sco-ibm-tech-enter-cz_dl_0213sco.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.  Daniel Lyons' article about SCO problems in serving a subpoena to PJ.
  8. ^ "Yes, There Is a PJ". eweek. 2007-02-15. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2095520,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.  Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports about the latest subpoena and PJ's break.
  9. ^ "Yes, there is a PJ". http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7673520174.html. 
  10. ^ Bob Mims (2005-04-14). "SCO losses up, revenues not". Salt Lake Tribune. 
  11. ^ a b Interview with Fuat Kircaali, CEO of Sys-Con, Free Software Magazine. Intimigation, Groklaw.
  12. ^ "SCO's Legal Wrangles Take an Odd, Personal Turn". 2005-05-11. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1814683,00.asp. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  13. ^ On Sys-Con and LinuxWorld.Com DoS (Again), Blog Home For Steve Suehring, 2005-05-14. Tragic End to Jones-O'Gara Feud See also Kircaali interview.
  14. ^ Daniel Lyons (2005-11-14). "Who is Pamela Jones?". Forbes. , a sidebar to Lyons' "Attack of the Blogs" in the same issue.
  15. ^ To Our Valued Readers, Linux Business News, posted 13 May 2005 (archived 16 May 2005 at the Internet Archive; message appears near top in box with a light yellow background)
  16. ^ "Maureen O'Gara @ SYS-CON MEDIA". Official website for Sys-Con Media. http://www.sys-con.com/author/2390. Retrieved on 2008-11-22. 
  17. ^ Chapter 11 Filing, SCO's Creditor Matrix at Groklaw
  18. ^ Primary court document "Exhibit 18" filed by SCO 2/10/2006. Face to Face: McBride outlines SCO's lawsuit strategy, zdnet.com. Writing Linux History: Groklaw's Role in the SCO Controversy, linuxinsider.com.
  19. ^ Letter to the Editor: No IBM-Groklaw connection, zdnews.com. PJ Responds to the Smear Campaign Against Groklaw, Groklaw.
  20. ^ Primary court document "Exhibit 19" filed by IBM 2/10/2006
  21. ^ CBRonline article "SCO blames Groklaw for IP licensing disappointment", April 15, 2005.

[edit] External links

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