It makes sense that in our ever-changing world that our laws have to keep up with the technological advances of the time. The increasing flow of information and innovation challenges the nuances of the law and raises interesting questions.
Emoji Agreement
A great demonstration of this attitude change is a very recent case coming out of Canada. A judge in Canada ruled that a thumbs up emoji sent over text counts as a valid way to convey a signature and essentially agree to the terms of a contract. The Canadian case involved a question of whether a farmer had agreed to sell flax to a buyer. In King’s Bench for Saskatchewan (2023 SKKB 116), the parties had shared texts, with the buyer sending a picture of a signed contract and the farmer responding with a “thumbs-up” emoji. Although the Court noted that a “thumbs-up” emoji is a non-traditional signature, the Court found that based on the specific circumstances of their relationship and the conversation, that “thumbs-up” emoji was a valid way to confirm and enter into a contract.
This ruling does not have legal implications on legal matters in the United States, but it is an interesting legal case to reference if a Judge in the federal or state courts are presented with the same challenge.
Personalized Advertising
The laws regarding advertising and companies using consumer data are particularly interesting to me. Personalized advertising has been a topic of conversation in recent years because it is worrisome for a lot of people. How does Instagram know that I was just looking to buy a green water bottle? It’s called surveillance capitalism and certain companies have gotten really good at it. The idea is that surveillance capitalism is the ability of companies to use your data created via online behaviors in order to predict what you will buy. Then the company will advertise their products to you based on that prediction.
There is a lot of discourse on the internet from both legal professionals and advertising professionals on what they think are the best and ethical practices moving forward. Whichever legal solution does prevail, there will be implications on how we are advertise in the future.
Artificial Intelligence
AI has been the plot for sci-fi movies for decades and it very quickly became a reality. With all new forms of artificial intelligence like ChatGPT and Snapchat AI, the law has a lot to catch up on. With artificial intelligence being used to write essays and Instagram captions, what are the impacts on copyright and intellectual property law? Or how a lawyer conducts legal research?
In addition to these questions, artificial intelligence could greatly change the laws surrounding defamation and slander. Defamation and slander are the acts involved when somebody lies about another person and tarnishes their reputation with notable repercussions. There are deep fakes where people use AI to make videos of celebrities that look real but actually aren’t. This has spread to music too.
Joan Is Awful
This last example is a bit more on the fictional side. For those of you who have watched the new season of Black Mirror, you probably know where I’m going with this. If you haven’t though, the Netflix original series made an episode called Joan is Awful where a woman, Joan, did not read the terms and conditions of an app, and the app creators used her life to create a television series. This is clearly a fictional example but it does make us ask ourselves: what is the law’s role when it comes to technology?
The answer is not clear just yet. In the meantime, be careful when you send a “thumbs up” emoji.
Written by: Theresa E. Viera
