Puerto Rico

Seventh Annual World Congress of Computer Law in San Juan, Puerto Rico - Day 1

By Christian M. Frank Fas

Fortunately enough, the Seventh Annual World Congress of Computer Law was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico from December 3rd to 7th, 2007.

This joint venture between the Puerto Rico Bar Association, the Alfa-Redi Foundation, the Inter-American University of PR, and the University of Puerto Rico brought together a delightfully informative group of inter-disciplinary professionals in what became a melting pot of innovation for the truly cutting edge of law.

Huge tomes can be written on any one of the many topics covered during this week, so I’ll just provide my overall impression of my favorite conferences I attended there. Feel free to research any of the topics covered, and you’ll be sure to find thousands of references on each, but none of them will provide the actual dynamic of live physical presence and group discussions that sprung up during the Congress.

I’ll begin, where else…but at the beginning.

I was sitting in my favorite chair at home, when I received a message from the PR Bar Association Newsletter which read: “VII Annual World Congress of Computer Law”, and immediately I was hooked. It could’ve been held in Sri Lanka, and I would’ve booked a plane ticket right then and there. It then read “San Juan”, and further below “The first 30 who respond will receive a scholarship.” Faster that you can say “Spam”, I replied with my contact info. Less than a minute had gone by since I’d received it. I began my “Please, please, please, let me be chosen.” chant, and lo and behold, I was chosen!!

With my schedule almost cleared from appointments, and as a true Road Warrior that I am, I packed up my stuff and took off.

Day 1 of 5

@ the Inter-American University of PR - Metro Campus

I arrived to the first conference held by Dr. Pedro Silva Ruiz on Electronic Contracts and Puerto Rico’s Electronic Signature law. This very interesting take on how our Civil Law tradition melds into the new globalized market of instant contracts through the Internet gave us an insight on how our local law is slowly adapting to a new contractual reality. Supported by an extensive list of references, Dr. Silva covered many topics in a very complete and organized manner.

For example, he discussed the lack of wording and formalities that legally binding e-mails may have. Being that such a communication may create a contractual obligation in Puerto Rico, he alerted those of us that commonly contract through e-mail that the completeness and precision of our language may come into play when contracting through the Internet. Our e-mails may one day come to be reviewed in court, so the more precise and carefully chosen our words are will be a key factor when interpreting the contracting parties.

After a short break, the second conference of the day was held by Dr. Claudia Fonseca from Televisa, where she explored the economic impact of Spam on the Private Sector. The figures and statistics that she covered and discussed were staggering. Something as innocuously looking as an unsolicited e-mail can cost enterprises millions of dollars a year, which in turn are passed onto the consumer. The seemingly harmless messages, when multiplied by the trillions of e-mails that are sent back and forth each day add up into a heavily taxed network traffic that requires more maintenance and increased traffic capacity, which in the long run, is paid by the consumer.

Afterwards, the excellenty eloquent Lcdo. Héctor Luis Acevedo, ex-mayor of San Juan and an expert on the Puerto Rico election process, expressed his reserves on an electronic voting system. Given the low margin of error attained with the PR manual process, and the high costs involved with changing the whole system over to an electronic system, Lcdo. Acevedo expressed serious doubts on whether or not to “upgrade” our election system. We were shown an excerpt of the 2006 documentary, Hacking Democracy, which very diligently put to the test the Diebold Election Systems, and showed that these miserably failed a hacking attempt, questioning the very results of all the past elections that have used these e-voting machines. Perhaps the only advantage that e-voting offers is the speed at which the final results are known, but I came to the conclusion that speed need not sacrifice the integrity of the democratic process. Please, don’t think for a second that I’m a techno-paranoid traditionalist, quite the contrary. But, the election process is probably the LAST place where a questionable result from a questionable process is needed. Besides, the only un-hackable computer is one that is not connected to anywhere, and that would defeat the purpose of an e-voting unit.

A quick lunch later, we sat down for a delightful dissertation given by Dr. Hildamar Fernandez from the Fiscalía de Venezuela on Cybercrime. Being a Criminologist myself, I was drawn to this conference even before it started. I’ve been a network security analyst for almost 15 years, and a staunch supporter of tougher cybercrime laws. Only recently has this legislation been approved in Puerto Rico, and its inclusion in our latest review of the PR Penal Code proved that we have legally arrived to the 21st Century. Dr. Fernández explained in great detail the Venezuelan categorization and penalization of Internet crimial activity, and discussed step by step the criminal sentencing process for each offense. One fact that I found rather curious is that the legal age for transgressors to be tried as adults is 14, which given the profile of the cyber-offensor, it might be a little harsh to sentence a minor to such long prison sentences at an early age. Many might detract from this view, and I am not a proponent of weak sentencing, but I must concede that minors are drawn by the allure of cybercrime. I, for one, became a security analyst by learning how to hack, and then applying that knowledge and experience for legal purposes. Had I not been drawn in by the mystique of breaking the law (there were none or few back then), this blog would most likely not be here.

The best part of this conference was the final slideshow of the different gadgets and inventions that facilitate cybercrime, phishing and ID theft. We saw card swipe readers in all colors and sizes, authentic looking fake ATMs, and even undistinguishable fake credit cards. I can safely say that I’ll stop and think long and hard before paying for gas at the station with a credit card the next time.

And so, this first day came to a close. I packed up my gear and hit the road, ready for another day of Cyber-conferences and e-dicussions.

Full post as published by Puerto Rico Law Blog on December 12, 2007 (boomark / email).