> question to ponder: If someone was served with court papers in
> cyberspace would it be legal?
(I'm not an international law expert, but I suspect it works this way:)
Only if they could prove beyond reasonable doubt that:
1) The person sought was the person found (and not some other
impersonation - an intelligent agent for the person bearing a
crypto accreditation would probably be acceptable, caveat 4)
below);
2) That the court papers were genuine (the "papers" would have
to contain evidence identifying them without ambiguity as
instruments of the court - say, an electronic signature);
3) That the papers were actually served to, and received by,
the target's electronic presence, or the target's representative;
4) That the "papers" were, subsequently, actually received by
the physical person if accepted by proxy - this is probably
the most difficult part.
Would you let your avatar (on autopilot whilst not under active control)
accept court papers? I think not...
I suggest we take this to the vrml-worlds list. (NOTE: _NOT_ the vworlds
list!)
-- [email protected] Hyphen home page: http://www.hyphen.com/ [email protected] And mine: http://www.hyphen.com/html/jonsg/ PGP key available on request Opinions here are mine, not Hyphen's