The 21st century merges cultures and spans the ages. My first day in Cairo was a mixture of the new and the old. After all, I’m in a hotel where there’s wireless internet access. To my good fortune, I met Essam, one of my colleagues at the ODR program, the legal affairs manager of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce, and we left together for the pyramids. The streets of Cairo are packed with people and cars - and the drivers whiz along, weaving in and out of lanes, careening toward people and slamming on brakes…I expected at least a few accidents; but there was not one. Essam told me that this is all normal. With road rage all the rage in the US, Essam said that people here quite accept this NASCAR like atmosphere with good nature. He was certainly right. The only animated conversations I witnessed were in the bazaars as Essam negotiated with proprietors for the best price. For me, it was a delight to have a companion taking me along to places I had never been. Make no mistake about it, the juxtaposition of the new and the old, something I’m quite used to coming from Boston, is much more startling here in Cairo. There are more people here than in New York City I was told. And, the conditions are quite challenging for most. At least that’s what I observed as we drove toward the pyramids. But even still, the sharpest contrast was yet to come. As we arrived at the place where we would get on the horses to ride into the desert and see the pyramids close up, I got out of our car, and looked up and saw the pyramids for the first time - framed by satellite dishes on the last houses before the desert. Satellite dishes and cell phones, and pyramids and tents. All in one place. All in one time. That’s enough inspiration for me to keep on the path of bringing online dispute resolution to the marketplace. In Cairo, the past is present, and so is the future.

Tonight, I am leaving for Cairo to speak at the 4th International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution. I hope this is an event that will truly connect members of the legal profession to each other from around the world to build a global culture of collaboration.

In 2006, the legal profession now can maintain that its members are connected digitally. Lawyers communicate with clients, courts, institutions, and each other by e-mail. Lawyers, law firms, bar associations, legal jurisdictions, courts, and legal services corporations have Websites that serve a range of functions. Websites provide biographical and introductory information; serve to incorporate the various aspects of the individual, organization, or corporation into an identity to project into cyberspace; sell primary and secondary legal materials; sell legal support services; create forums for further connection; and, allow for some aspects of practicing law online, such as conducting legal research and filing pleadings and other court documents. Again, however, the legal world in cyberspace and the legal physical world overlap only minimally, especially as compared to what is to come.

The Fourth International ODR forum will be a place to envision that future. I look forward to reporting on the event as it unfolds.

On Thursday, March 9, 2006, I moderated a teleconference and live audio Web cast sponsored by the American Bar Association’s International Law and Business Sections entitled, “Privacy and Data Protection in an Age of Heightened Security.” In my opening remarks, I observed,
Boards of Directors are under scrutiny as never before. The spate of public collapses of major corporations worldwide and showcase trials of their executives have put boards of directors in the spotlight as well. Directors are responsible to mind the corporate operations on behalf of their shareholders. Aggrieved investors are filing lawsuits against directors when companies fail because they have broken laws. And, there is the public humiliation of being on the board of a failed company. Of course, many times directors will defend their actions by saying that they were misled by management. The question which is raised in these lawsuits often times comes to answering the question – were the directors being actively misled, or, were they asleep at the switch?

The program examined the duty of directors with respect to the management and security of their information assets.

As I began the program, I borrowed the analogy from Michael Power and Roland Trope’s “Sailing in Dangerous Waters: A Director’s Guide to Data Governance” (two of our speakers), that in today’s online environment, Directors can only look through the periscope of an emerging seascape to protect their company’s information assets and assure their customers that their privacy rights are being guarded.

Here is the problem for Boards of Directors: information assets move in and out of anonymous spaces on the Internet, which facilitates fraud, theft and abuse. These crimes can and do occur from both inside a company as well as externally. Technologists are currently working to create a new identity layer of the Internet, but that is not today’s reality. And, laws governing the conduct of corporations affected by cybercrimes emanate from many Nation-States, reflect different cultural and legal traditions, and are hopelessly in conflict with each other. So how do directors grapple with conflicts of laws and cybercrime? Can their ever be a harmonization of rules?

One of the speakers at the teleconference was IBO’s own Demetrios Eleftheriou. He is working with policy makers from around the globe to help harmonize the rules of law that will govern how a company and its directors protect their information assets. On May 5-6, 2006, the American Bar Association Section of International Law and the International Association of Young Lawyers are co-sponsoring a major global harmonization conference to which they have invited public sector bodies (including the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Commerce), private legal practicioners, global consultants, leading multi-nationals, academic institutions and public interest groups. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Spiros Simitis, Professor of Law at the Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main and Director of the Research Centre for Data Protection. I will be speaking at the conference on the role of IBO in harmonizing privacy rights and creating online dispute resolution mechanisms to enforce these rights. For more information about this excellent program, see http://www.aija.org/modules/events/index.php?id=18.

One final point - technology is routinely being used by corporations to interact with their customers. Directors need to understand how this technology is being used. I shared slides on the types of surveillance technology used by corporations and governments, demonstrating the present seascape of how technology can be used to breach privacy rights, leading to legal risks and exposures. As long as the internet remains anonymous, the relationship between corporations and their customers will be mediated by technologists who are overseen by company officers subject to director oversight. With increasing identity theft problems occurring world-wide, legal risks and exposures will continue to rise. One way to change this picture is to change the way the internet operates.

Many groups, including IBO, are combining efforts to create a layer of identity on the Internet, which will require each person to have and manage a digital identity that will be part of an “open security” system that will change the dynamics of how we relate to each other through the internet. Keep an eye on our website for more information on this topic as time goes on.

Just as the last day of February, 2006 winds down, I am typing my first
blog entry for 2006. I understand that blog entries are meant to be done much
more regularly than I’ve done until now, so I’m committing to publishing
at least once a week from now on.

This first entry in 2006 is to acknowledge the fantastic reception we are
receiving around the world in all of our contacts. As we propose projects
to bring the rule of law to cyberspace, people see the positive impact we
can have near term. We envision that by bringing e-commerce payment systems to those women and children in need in Africa, we can create a model which can be replicated around the world. The foundation of any e-commerce payment system is the verifiable digital identity of those making and receiving
payments, and, we have all ready connected key people who can make this
project a reality. And, we have started a UNDP cybercrime judicial
training program in developing countries that is set to expand.

So many people are getting involved with IBO, and, in the next three
months, we will be presenting elawyering, digital privacy and ODR training
programs both online and in Austin, Texas, New York, the District of Columbia, Cairo, Atlanta and Seattle.

Please join us. Membership is free at www.internetbar.org.