Fortunately enough, the Seventh Annual World Congress of Computer Law was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico from December 3rd to 7th, 2007.
This joint venture between the Puerto Rico Bar Association, the Alfa-Redi Foundation, the Inter-American University of PR, and the University of Puerto Rico brought together a delightfully informative group of inter-disciplinary professionals in what became a melting pot of innovation for the truly cutting edge of law.
Huge tomes can be written on any one of the many topics covered during this week, so I’ll just provide my overall impression of my favorite conferences I attended there. Feel free to research any of the topics covered, and you’ll be sure to find thousands of references on each, but none of them will provide the actual dynamic of live physical presence and group discussions that sprung up during the Congress.
I’ll begin, where else…but at the beginning.
I was sitting in my favorite chair at home, when I received a message from the PR Bar Association Newsletter which read: “VII Annual World Congress of Computer Law”, and immediately I was hooked. It could’ve been held in Sri Lanka, and I would’ve booked a plane ticket right then and there. It then read “San Juan”, and further below “The first 30 who respond will receive a scholarship.” Faster that you can say “Spam”, I replied with my contact info. Less than a minute had gone by since I’d received it. I began my “Please, please, please, let me be chosen.” chant, and lo and behold, I was chosen!!
With my schedule almost cleared from appointments, and as a true Road Warrior that I am, I packed up my stuff and took off.
I arrived to the first conference held by Dr. Pedro Silva Ruiz on Electronic Contracts and Puerto Rico’s Electronic Signature law. This very interesting take on how our Civil Law tradition melds into the new globalized market of instant contracts through the Internet gave us an insight on how our local law is slowly adapting to a new contractual reality. Supported by an extensive list of references, Dr. Silva covered many topics in a very complete and organized manner.
For example, he discussed the lack of wording and formalities that legally binding e-mails may have. Being that such a communication may create a contractual obligation in Puerto Rico, he alerted those of us that commonly contract through e-mail that the completeness and precision of our language may come into play when contracting through the Internet. Our e-mails may one day come to be reviewed in court, so the more precise and carefully chosen our words are will be a key factor when interpreting the contracting parties.
After a short break, the second conference of the day was held by Dr. Claudia Fonseca from Televisa, where she explored the economic impact of Spam on the Private Sector. The figures and statistics that she covered and discussed were staggering. Something as innocuously looking as an unsolicited e-mail can cost enterprises millions of dollars a year, which in turn are passed onto the consumer. The seemingly harmless messages, when multiplied by the trillions of e-mails that are sent back and forth each day add up into a heavily taxed network traffic that requires more maintenance and increased traffic capacity, which in the long run, is paid by the consumer.
Afterwards, the excellenty eloquent Lcdo. Héctor Luis Acevedo, ex-mayor of San Juan and an expert on the Puerto Rico election process, expressed his reserves on an electronic voting system. Given the low margin of error attained with the PR manual process, and the high costs involved with changing the whole system over to an electronic system, Lcdo. Acevedo expressed serious doubts on whether or not to “upgrade” our election system. We were shown an excerpt of the 2006 documentary, Hacking Democracy, which very diligently put to the test the Diebold Election Systems, and showed that these miserably failed a hacking attempt, questioning the very results of all the past elections that have used these e-voting machines. Perhaps the only advantage that e-voting offers is the speed at which the final results are known, but I came to the conclusion that speed need not sacrifice the integrity of the democratic process. Please, don’t think for a second that I’m a techno-paranoid traditionalist, quite the contrary. But, the election process is probably the LAST place where a questionable result from a questionable process is needed. Besides, the only un-hackable computer is one that is not connected to anywhere, and that would defeat the purpose of an e-voting unit.
A quick lunch later, we sat down for a delightful dissertation given by Dr. Hildamar Fernandez from the Fiscalía de Venezuela on Cybercrime. Being a Criminologist myself, I was drawn to this conference even before it started. I’ve been a network security analyst for almost 15 years, and a staunch supporter of tougher cybercrime laws. Only recently has this legislation been approved in Puerto Rico, and its inclusion in our latest review of the PR Penal Code proved that we have legally arrived to the 21st Century. Dr. Fernández explained in great detail the Venezuelan categorization and penalization of Internet crimial activity, and discussed step by step the criminal sentencing process for each offense. One fact that I found rather curious is that the legal age for transgressors to be tried as adults is 14, which given the profile of the cyber-offensor, it might be a little harsh to sentence a minor to such long prison sentences at an early age. Many might detract from this view, and I am not a proponent of weak sentencing, but I must concede that minors are drawn by the allure of cybercrime. I, for one, became a security analyst by learning how to hack, and then applying that knowledge and experience for legal purposes. Had I not been drawn in by the mystique of breaking the law (there were none or few back then), this blog would most likely not be here.
The best part of this conference was the final slideshow of the different gadgets and inventions that facilitate cybercrime, phishing and ID theft. We saw card swipe readers in all colors and sizes, authentic looking fake ATMs, and even undistinguishable fake credit cards. I can safely say that I’ll stop and think long and hard before paying for gas at the station with a credit card the next time.
Afterwards, @ the Puerto Rico Bar Association
So, the second day started with the introduction of Puerto Rico’s Electronic Attorney Registry, called UniRed, which is a joint venture of the Judicial Branch’s Court Administration Office (OAT in Spanish), and the Office for Notary Inspection (ODIN in Spanish).
During this conference, given by two representatives of each government dependency, including ODIN’s new Director Lcda. Lourdes I. Quintana Lloréns, the whole preparation process, development and implementation for such a large scale virtualization of attorney profile creation and court document and docket management was explained in full detail. There are three main goals of this program, the first is to enable attorneys to file documents electronically, the second is to handle court docket scheduling and manage documents, and the third is to automate and streamline official notifications.
From my point of view, and being a technological darwinist, this program will unchain me from the physical constraints of physical document filing, and may well reduce will enable me to practice law from wherever I am in the world. There is a great concern that many lawyers who still do not have the necessary computer skill to manage e-filing or electronic docket management. A few year ago, the PR Federal Circuit Court simply decided to start e-filing. You either learned, or practiced something else. The court set a deadline, and offered courses to teach those who didn’t know how to file electronically. I strongly believe that this is the way to go. You either learn, or practice something else. “I’ve been doing this the same way as far as I can remember.” is not an option in our practice.
The UNIRED conference later addressed the future plans of e-notification of notary documents and filing for certifications online through the new government web portal. The Office for Notary Inspection is diligently streamlining the necessary reciprocal communication between its offices and the community of Public Notaries in Puerto Rico. Notaries must file monthly reports and are subject to periodic inspections. An electronic system of document filing and notification will definitely speed these bidirectional communications, and keep a closer tab on such a delicate and important practice.
While in Law School, I was a strong proponent of e-filing and e-document management. Most of my colleagues said that this would never happen in my lifetime. It’s nice to know that it happened early enough in my law practice to see it materialize, and be able to benefit from it. So…here’s a great big “I TOLD YOU SO.” to all of them.
The next conference discussed the theory and practicality of running an e-government. An expert in Oracle Systems spoke of his experiences with multi-level e-government services deployment, and its negative impact over bureaucracy. Along with very organized and detailed slides, he covered all the intricacies associated with digitalizing public services, and as he pointed out, the most important of these tasks: making internal government processes and inter-departamental communication faster and more efficiently, while at the same time reducing the costs associated with document multiplicity and reprocessing. This, just this, was a wake up call to digitize most government agencies. Another very interesting topic he covered dealt with the suspicion by government employees that digitalization and automatization brought with them layoffs by simplifying the bureaucratic process. Quickly and very proficiently, he pointed out that instead of employing personnel to speed up multiple processes, these same government employees can be better dedicated to serving the public, while fewer people are needed to process the intake of processes. Fascinating…less people working, and more people serving the public might one day eliminate lines at government offices. One can only dream that this day will come.
After a lunch break, the Congress resumed with a lecture on Patents and Trademarks. This conference was like “Patents and Trademarks for Dummies”, and the speaker explained everything in simple, common language. It’s great that he did so, because most of the audience, although enthusiastic over new technologies, and speaking for myself, do not handle these matters commonly. As a solo practitioner, I seldom see Intellectual Property matters, or handle submissions to the US Patent Office, as do larger law firms who specialize in these practices.
On a side note, on this day I met Dr. Erick Iriarte Ahon, from Lima, Peru. As a representative from Alfa-Redi Foundation, he organized and moderated most of the conferences. A big “Thank you” to him for providing me with a wealth on information, and sharing his ample knowledge of domains and virtual identity on the web. You can visit his law firm’s webpage at http://www.iriartelaw.com.
The obligation to provide Child Support payments in Puerto Rico ceases when the minor reaches adulthood. 
Otra vez con un nuevo teléfono. Aprovecho esta oportunidad para informarle a todos nuestros clientes y lectores del estado de New York, que ahora tenemos un nuevo número de teléfono en el área de Nueva York:
This question is part of the ten most asked questions regarding legal matters in Puerto Rico. So many potential clients ask this question that it is considered a very common petition in PR courts.
