Apparently, the justices in the U.S. Supreme court don’t use much technology. LawyersUSA reports that during oral arguments in the case City of Ontario v. Quon, which considers whether police officers had an expectation of privacy in personal (and sexually explicit) text messages sent on pagers issued to them by the city, the justices of the Supreme Court at times seemed to struggle with the technology involved.
Among the technical difficulties reported included Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. – who is known to write out his opinions in longhand with pen and paper instead of a computer – asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?”
Justice Anthony Kennedy asked what would happen if a text message was sent to an officer at the same time he was sending one to someone else. “Does it say: ‘Your call is important to us, and we will get back to you?’” Kennedy asked.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrangled a bit with the idea of a service provider. “You mean (the text) doesn’t go right to me?” he asked. Then he asked whether they can be printed out in hard copy. “Could Quon print these spicy little conversations and send them to his buddies?” Scalia asked.
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While I’m no lawyer, I have a passing knowledge of how courts work (and don’t work) to frame decisions I make. It would seem reasonable that the Supremes would have a passing knowledge of how technology works when they are making laws that will impact the rest of us.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.