CONTRIBUTORS
Denise Howell is a seasoned appellate and intellectual property litigator based in Los Angeles. Denise writes one of the first and most popular law-related blogs,
Bag and Baggage, coined the term "blawg" and helped pioneer podcasting for lawyers. Microcontent obsessed since 2001, she is frequently quoted in the media on legal issues involving intellectual property and technology law.
"Sound Policy" is Denise's show at
IT Conversations, and it's also what she hopes results from the briefs she submits to court. Email Denise at
dhowell@gmail.com.
Dennis Kennedy is a computer lawyer and legal technology expert based in St. Louis, Missouri. An award-winning author, a frequent speaker and a widely-read
blogger, he has more than 300 publications on legal, technology and Internet topics, many of which are collected in his e-books. Dennis has been described as someone who knows almost every rock song in existence and, more importantly, how they apply to technology and law. Email Dennis at his
gmail address.
Tom Mighell is Senior Counsel and Litigation Technology Support Coordinator at Cowles & Thompson in Dallas. He has published the Internet Legal Research Weekly newsletter since 2000 and blogged about the Internet and legal technology at Inter Alia since August of 2002. With Tom's singing, Ernie on guitar and Dennis' encylopedic knowledge of rock music, we may have the beginnings of a good band, if this whole blog thing doesn't work out. Email Tom at
tmighell@swbell.net.
Marty Schwimmer left a partnership in the largest trademark practice in the world and founded Schwimmer Mitchell, a full-service IP micro-boutique in Westchester County, New York, where he represents owners of famous and not yet famous trademarks. He founded
The Trademark Blog, the first IP law blog and the one with the most pictures. He is the first to come in and the last to leave in his firm. Email Marty at
marty@schwimmerlegal.com.
Ernest Svenson practices law with a mid-sized law firm in New Orleans, specializing in business-related lawsuits. Most of his practice takes place in federal court, especially the Eastern District. He is best known for his weblog
Ernie the Attorney, which he started as an experiment. Like many experiments it got out of control. Nevertheless, he continues to practice law and, occasionally,
to seek enlightenment. Email Ernest at
esvenson@gmail.com.
Denise Howell
Dennis M. Kennedy
Tom Mighell
Marty Schwimmer
Ernest Svenson
1. ruidh on June 1, 2005 11:30 PM writes...
The obvious answer is not to give your email address to banks, credit card companies and utility companies. If my bank or credit card has a problem, I expect that they will call me on the phone or send me a letter written on dead trees. I do not do sensitive financial business over email. I don't ponder these emails attempting to determine if they are fraudulent, I *know* they are fraudulent because, by and large, I haven't shared my address with the company and, if for some reason I have, I've opted out of them using it to communicate with me.
Email is convenient and reliable for many purposes. Banking isn't one of them.
Permalink to Comment2. Dennis on June 2, 2005 1:44 PM writes...
I generally agree with you, although you've answered the easiest question - email from banks and financial institutions. Your use of the phrase "by and large" raises the element of doubt when you receive one of these emails. The "obvious answer" isn't always so obvious because you never can quite be sure when you might have accidentally opted in to permission to use your email address.
What happens when you get an email purporting to be from someone, like a domain name registrar or your ISP, where you are expecting communication by email? What about an email from an online service provider requesting that you update your credit card info because an expiration date has gone by?
And, a question I'm currently wondering about, what happens when you get a letter that seems to be from a credit card company, but the stationery and envelope used don't look "official" and the return address is a P.O. box? Do you call the phone number in the letter or go to a URL listed in the letter or do you try to find another number to call through independent research?
If you start thinking too much about this, you wonder what, if anything, you should respond to anymore.
My question would be: if we accept that banking is not one of the things that email is convenient and reliable for, what are examples of things that it is, in 2005, clearly convenient and reliable for?
Unfortunately, I think that's become a difficult question to answer with any degree of certainty, but I admire your sense of optimism and wish that I could share it.
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