Beyond a shadow of a pornographic doubt, don't rush to judgment

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Misunderstand the issue

"But, sooner or later, the legal system will wise up to the realities of hooking PCs to the Internet and the likelihood that nefarious activity could be just as much if not more to blame for the appearance of questionable material than the user itself."

Unfortunately, you misunderstand the issue. Lawyers and judges have to take Continuing Legal Education (CLE). Due to client security, etc., ethics courses routinely mention trojans, viruses, etc., computer evidence, etc.

The problem is inherent in the legal system. The Anglo-American legal system uses an "adversarial" approach. Two (or more) "adversaries" each hires an advocate (lawyer) who presents evidence and argument to the tribunal (court, arbitration panel, etc.). The tribunal is required to use ONLY evidence and argument presented. If one side argued "2 + 2 is 5 and here is evidence from our 3 experts" and the other side argued "2 + 2 is 3 and here is evidence from our 3 experts", the trier of fact could not say, "Wait a minute, we INDEPENDENTLY concluded that 2 + 2 is not 3 OR 5!" (Obviously, I'm oversimplifying a bit, since 2 + 2 is general knowledge above elementary school.)

In most cases a trier is presented only two scenarios--the plaintiff/prosecutor's interpretation and the defendant's. If there is a third possible scenario the trier normally doesn't hear it. Unfortunately, defense lawyers realize that if you present 3, 4 or more possible scenarios, it gives the impression, "They'll say anything to win."

Posted by: Rick_R   Posted on: 10/08/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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