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This article at CNN frustrates me (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/law.technology/index.html). There is a repeating theme among some lawyers and the general public that somehow we do not have laws to deal with emerging technological issues. I would argue we in fact do have such laws.

The article begins with a discussion about defamatory statements made on Twitter or other social networks. The article implies that the laws of defamation are somehow no current with the times. How could they not be? Defamation is defined as, "... the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always, a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant)." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation).

A statement on Twitter, MySpace?, Facebook, e-mail, is the same as a statement made in person, in print, or televised. A statement is merely a communication of ideas. The media is irrelevant. So the laws of defamation would apply to a Tweet, as they would any other statement. The defenses to the statement would be the same as well. The person making the statement might not be thinking it was the same, but it is.

The article goes on to imply that the law is missing in areas of intellectual property rights. Yet, it is well settled in American Jurisprudence that the person who creates a writing or thing has the automatic copyright to that creation, unless otherwise modified by contract. Where the conflict arises is that unwitting creators are posting their ideas in electronic media where a EULA or contract has granted rights to the website's owner. That, or the creator is unwittingly placing the creation in the public domain.

The issue is less a failing in the law, than it is an issue with those who do not understand the law. Even some lawyers will fall into this trap. The think that because the media in which the thought or communication is different that past forms, that the old laws do not apply. Non-lawyers unfamiliar with the laws, do not know how to extend how a law created for a different time or media would apply to the current situation.

The reality is that all of our new-fangled, high-tech, means of communication and information sharing are not all that different than before, despite the need of electricity, computers and networks. There is no difference between me telling people a unsubstantiated, careless lie in the grocery store line, than there is posting the same statement to all my friends online. I still made the statement, and if the careless, wrongful statement caused harm, I am responsible for the statement.