Chicago, USA. 2009.3.19 - Just 15 years ago, computers were a rarity on lawyer's desks and in courtrooms. Research was done by law clerks and document preparation by secretarial pools.
 

 
Then came the Web.
 
Increasingly, courtrooms the world over are filled with desktops and notebooks for the legal fraternity and reporters.
 
Now we have the Twitterverse.
 
Recently, as reported in the International Herald Tribune, jurors in the UK and the USA have been making use of BlackBerrys and iPhones to do their own research during trials. They are examining defendants backgrounds online, checking legal terms in Wikipedia, viewing crime scene locations with Google Maps and Twittering anticipated decisions to friends.
 
All a juror needs to conduct this research is a handheld computer or smartphone. A meal break or bathroom break allows sufficient time for the juror to logon and contravene the rules of the judge and a long history of legal formality on the presentation of evidence.
 
Mistrials have been called as a result of numerous of these incidents, wasting weeks and months of legal resources, including the jury panel's time.
 
Once more, the rapidity of global technological development is brought into sharp focus. To stay ahead of this 'Digital Tsunami'; individuals, corporations, institutions and governments need to determine ethical, efficient and effective responses to this unceasing 'Communications Evolution'.