No plans for dinner tonite? At the blink of an eye (or, more likely, the click of a mouse) you can find thousands of recipes. Better still, you can find hundreds of restaurants in your area – and you can even narrow down the options by specifying the cuisine or the atmosphere you crave. Don’t want to get out of yr PJs – you can find restaurants that deliver.
The internet is truly making us lazy. Everything can be done so easily and quickly with the use of technology, why bother using the traditional methods of our forefathers (or even the methods we ourselves used only a decade ago)?
Even our legal system is modernizing. Recently, there has been a rather shocking acceptance of the use of technology-aids by judges in Australia, which appears to have set a worldwide precedent (well, at least a precedent to New Zealand, our loyal little neighbour).
Service of court documents or orders on the other party to the case were traditionally required to be done personally. So, for example, if you were suing the crazy motorist who broke your leg, you (or your lawyer rather) would have to lodge an application of the matter into court, and would have to hand over these initiating documents to the crazy motorist in person to let them know of the court action.
However, things have changed. The courts in Australia have started accepting postal and email service of documents. Further, last year, the court made an order for "substituted service" by allowing certain court documents to be served by text message!
The latest craze in the service-revolution is the use of the social-networking website Facebook. Who knew that Facebook would have a valuable commercial application! In December 2008, Master Harper of the ACT Supreme Court ordered that the judgement could be served on defendants by notification on Facebook.
As expected, New Zealand followed suit. Recently, the High Court of NZ, convinced of the difficulties associated with conventional service, ordered that a legal judgement could be served on a party through Facebook. Details here.
My analysis leaves a number of technical questions unanswered: (a set of guidelines are needed to deal with these issues)
1. Do you have to be 'Facebook friends' with the person you are serving a court document on?
2. Has Facebook developed a specific application to handle the service of court documents?
3. Can the failure to check your Facebook account be a valid excuse for not following a court order that was served through Facebook? Will Facebook provide evidence to the court of your Facebook activities?
4. How many text messages are necessary to convey the contents of a court document?
To me, the use of technology seems to be spiralling out of control.
Legal documents being served on Facebook could lead to the demise of the social-networking site. Facebook is supposed to be fun and frivolous. I know that I, for one, would not rush onto Facebook nearly as often if my events notifications and social messages were replaced by parking fines, court orders and late-DVD-return notices.
Just some of my random thoughts.
Facebook status: Camille vows not to accept any ‘facebook friends’ who could potentially sue me.
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