Law in a Digital World [Hardcover]

M. Ethan Katsh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195080173 | ISBN-13: 978-0195080179 | Publication Date: May 25, 1995

The world of law is a world of information. Rules, judgments, decisions, interpretations, and agreements all involve using and communicating information. Today, we are experiencing a significant transition, from letters fixed on paper to information stored electronically. The digital era, where information is created, stored, and communicated electronically, is quickly approaching, if not already here. The future of law will no longer be found in impressive buildings and leather-bound books, but in small pieces of silicon, in streams of light, and in millions of miles of wires and cable. It will be a world of new relationships and greater possibilities for individual and group communication, an environment where the value of information increases as it is shared.
In Law in a Digital world, M. Ethan Katsh explores how these new technologies will alter one of our most central institutions. He considers the different ways in which people will not only electronically read and write, but also interact with our vast storehouses of legal knowledge and information. He envisions how sounds and pictures will play into the largely imageless print world of law, and looks at the future importance of graphic and nontextual communication. He explores how the flexible, personalized organization of data will transform the way we gather information, and whether information can or cannot be contained, raising questions of copyright and privacy.
What happens to the law when information is more plentiful and accessible? What happens to those people who suddenly have access to information never before available? Does the use of information in a new form change the institution, the user, and those who come in contact with the user? And, what role does the lawyer play in all of this? For citizens, for lawyers, for all those who will be part of the digital world rushing toward us, Katsh answers these questions while considering the implications of this new era.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A bold and subtle study that should be read by all lawyers and everyone interested in the influence of computers on a key facet of our social order."--David R. Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Lexis Counsel Connect and Counsel, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering

"Professor Katsh shows that the information age has far greater and far more subtle consequences on the contours of law than we ever imagined. Law in a Digital World is a lucid and gracefully-written analysis of how digital communications is transforming not just the delivery of legal information, but our very notion of 'law' itself. It's hard to speak of a book that both deals with 'legal information and law libraries' and is 'absorbing reading' in the same breath, but this is one work for which that holds true. Professor Katsh has managed to write a book that is at once thoroughly researched, remarkably insightful, and a joy to read. Legal scholars and practicing lawyers have no clue what changes are in store for law and law practice because of digital communications; Professor Katsh does."--Trotter Hardy, Professor of Law, College of William & Mary School of Law and Moderator, Cyberia-L Internet listserv

"Court decisions online within minutes and on disk within weeks, e-mail access to federal and state legislators as well as agency officials, bar journal ads for software and diverse other computer-based products and services--the signs are abundant that law is undergoing a fundamental technology shift. This insightful book by Ethan Katsh pushes way beyond a detailed catalog of such evidence to focus on deeper questions about what this may mean for law as an activity, a means of social and economic ordering, and a profession. In doing so Katsh explores important ways in which the change in technology will transform law, not just for the specialists, but for all of us."-- Peter W. Martin, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law and Co-Director, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

"Ethan Katsh remains on the cutting edge of scholarship in the field of legal information. This book will set the parameters for the next generation of research on how legal theory and information technology interact." --Robert Berring, Professor of Law and Law Librarian, Boalt Hall Law School, University of California at Berkeley

"Katsh's book provides an intriguing look at the legal world in a period of transformation...written in a manner that makes the material palatable--and even enjoyable...The author is at his best...when he looks to the future and discusses his vision of what lies ahead for the world of law."--The Law and Politics Book Review

About the Author

M. Ethan Katsh is a Professor of Law and Acting Chair of the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195080173
• ISBN-13: 978-0195080179
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,828,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book joins the popular press in perpetuating misconceptions about the Internet., September 6, 2005

By 

Erik J. Heels "Patent Attorney" (MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Law in a Digital World (Hardcover)

With the belief that 1) the Internet is not magical, 2) few (if any) new laws are needed to answer the legal questions it raises, and 3) disaster will not result if the government fails to regulate the Internet, I sat down to read Law in a Digital World by M. Ethan Katsh, Oxford University Press. Law in a Digital World is certainly a thought-provoking book. Many of the topics it covers are important to students and practitioners of the law. But perhaps because of the breadth of the work, the depth of coverage is unsatisfying.

First, Katsh perpetuates the myth of magic. In addition to using many of the buzzwords that make the Internet sound like magic, Katsh even uses the word "magical" to describes how it works. And frequently other terms he employs to describe how the Internet works miss the mark. For example, in a chapter entitled "Communicating In Cyberspace," Katsh mentions three models of communication, including the one-to-many model (e.g. a personal mailing list), the many-to-many model (e.g. the listserv list), and an online service model (e.g. Lexis or the World-Wide Web). Conspicuously absent from this discussion is the important distinction between centralized methods of communication and publication (typified by listserv lists and FTP servers) and decentralized ones (typified by Usenet newsgroups, Gopher servers, and World-Wide Web servers). Also missing is any discussion of how ISDN technology (which transforms a simple analog phone line into two 64 Kilobyte digital communication channels) blurs the distinction between voice and data networks.

Second, Katsh apparently believes that new laws are necessary to deal with the "problem" of illegal copying on the Internet. As discussed above, it is never necessary or possible to have 100% enforcement of any law, much less copyright law. And the publisher's copyright page makes the egregious error of misstating the law by failing to account for "fair use" under the Copyright Act. The blanket statement that "no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form" is simply not true.

Katsh's examples of how the law is "limited" are paralleled by examples of how technology is limited. I argue that the many of the "limitations" are either not limitations at all or are limited by the human factor. For example, Katsh holds out the "talking" dishwasher and the programmable VCR as examples of how modern machines are limited in their capabilities, how they are not linked to each other. He says that it makes no sense to have unconnected machines in a digital world. The same can be said of internal combustion engines, which are very powerful machines that frequently perform a single task, such as powering an automobile or a lawnmower. Task-specific machines (whether their heart is a computer chip or an internal combustion engine) are exactly what consumers want. Why would I want my dishwasher to communicate with my VCR? While I agree that automation can be useful both for automating tasks and (as Katsh points out) for gathering information, I disagree that automation is the solution to every problem. One need look no further than the "modern" airport lavatory to see the utter failure of automation in action. Faucets run when people merely want to comb their hair in front of the mirror, and they shut off when one's hands are still soapy. Often the choice between hot and cold water has been removed entirely.

As another example, Katsh points out that searching for law by key words (Boolean searching) is not very easy. He suggests that natural language searching may be the solution. Bunk. Natural language searching is no help to a lawyer who cannot spot the legal issue. The human factor, whether in finding the relevant case law or figuring out what it means, will always be the limiting factor.

Third, Katsh restates the myth of disaster, stating that bad things will happen if copyright law is not fixed. This myth appears to have its roots in the writings of John Perry Barlow, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In the March 1994 issue of Wired, Barlow asked the following question: "If our property can be infinitely reproduced and instantaneously distributed all over the planet without cost, without our knowledge, without is even leaving our possession, how can we protect it?" (The phrase "Doctor, Doctor, it hurts when I do this" quickly comes to mind...) I would answer this question by asking more questions. Why do you feel that protection is necessary? What is the goal of protection?

There is a world of difference between intellectual property (which are usually statutory rights) and its embodiment (e.g. a book, computer file, or painting). But that issue alone can fill a textbook. (For example, see Stevens v. Gladding, 14 How. 528 (1854), where the court held that the purchaser of copper printing plates did not have the right to make maps therefrom.) The legal community must educate legal professionals, consumers, and producers of intellectual property about intellectual property and the law governing it.

Law in a Digital World is a good introduction to the legal and technical challenges facing the legal profession as more and more information becomes available in digital form. But if fails to challenge--and in fact often repeats--many of the assumptions made by the popular press.