E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 5, 2007
"A handful of police departments have utilized YouTube as a law enforcement tool, putting up video of suspects and eliciting help from the Internet-using public in identifying them. Experts say the idea has promise, but it's too soon to tell whether it will have staying power amid constantly evolving technologies and the difficulty of making a video stand out among millions. Some also see a risk of fruitless tips, misidentifications or privacy problems."
These criticisms could just as easily apply to the broadcasting of surveillance camera video on the local evening news, a practice which is commonplace in many jurisdictions when police require community assistance to identify suspects. YouTube may reach a different audience but the concept is the same.
(Link: Police Turn to YouTube to Catch Suspects at washingtonpost.com)
Two independent sources estimate that U.S. consumers spent more than $33 billion online last quarter. Though online spending is still a fraction of total consumer spending, it is growing at a rate of more than 25 percent annually.
The e-commerce industry is growing at a substantial pace. As it does, law schools and firms must adapt to serve the unique legal needs of these clients.
(Link: New numbers show e-commerce spending tops $33 billion at Washington Business Journal)
Wikipedia plans to ask contributors who claim particular expertise on a subject to verify their credentials. The change in policy follows the discovery "that a high-ranking member of Wikipedia's bureaucracy used his cloak of anonymity to lie about being a professor of religion."
After his fraud was discovered, the contributor seemed to blame the whole incident on Wikipedia’s liberal concept of collaboration, which permits anyone to submit or edit site information. In an apology written to the Wikipedia community, he is quoted as saying: " ‘It was, quite honestly, my impression that it was well known that I was not who I claimed to be, and that in the absence of any confirmation, no respectible (sic) publication would print it.’ "
This is yet another example of why courts should not rely on Wikipedia as authority for any disputed fact that is material to a case.
(Link: After flap, Wikipedia wants ID from self-proclaimed experts at SilliconValley.com)
E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.
Comments