The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/34686
DID YOU KNOW? (Courtesy of IMDb) S teven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 2002 film MINORITY REPORT is often cited by technologists as a vision — albeit, not always a rosy one — for the future. If you have not seen the film, here is the short version. In the time to come, law enforcement employs psychics who predict when violent crimes will be committed. Officers then arrest the perpetrators before the crime occurs. This all works fine until one of their own — Tom Cruise — is arrested for a future murder he has never even contemplated. The film focuses on Cruise’s attempts to clear himself and unravel the vast conspiracy he perceives to be behind his accusation and capture. In the context of Law2020™, several aspects of this film are notable. First, the technology used in the film is formidable, although not as futuristic today as it must have seemed in 2002. The police use large glass display panels where they aggregate electronic data from multiple sources and arrange it visually to make connections related to their investigation. Today, a mere nine years after MINORITY REPORT was released, at least one company — Obscura Digital — markets such display technology to mainstream companies. In 2020, nine years from now, today’s science fiction might be technology fact. In our own legal technology environment, a wide array of tools is available for searching across multiple repositories, and artificial intelligence applications link data in a variety of ways. The lesson: the rate of technology change and advancement continues to be meteoric, and, as technology leaders, we can never afford to cease looking forward. Second, the film reminds us of the importance of the data we house — and the damage that data can do in the hands of the wrong people. Despite the fact that lawyers are, by profession, risk averse, they often struggle with the security/convenience equation, i.e., security is fine as long as it doesn’t keep lawyers from accessing whatever data they want whenever and wherever they want. This lesson? Physical security is important, but data security is even more important; you must know where your data resides, what risks it presents and to whom it is accessible. Next, MINORITY REPORT teaches us that technology works best in support of processes that are already bulletproof. The film’s premise is that law enforcement acts under the assumption that the psychics are never wrong and then uses data to prove something they already “know” to be true. The fact that the psychics are human — and thus inherently flawed — is a risk the authorities are willing to take. The technology merely automates (and speeds up) the execution of a potentially flawed assertion. Lesson three: make sure the process exists and works before implementing Three years before production began, Steven Spielberg assembled a team of sixteen future experts in Santa Monica to brainstorm out the year 2054 for him. This team included: Neil Gershenfeld, professor at the Media Lab at MIT; Shaun Jones, director of biomedical research at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency); William Mitchell, dean of the school of architecture at MIT; Peter Calthorpe, the New Urbanism evangelist; Jaron Lanier, one of the inventors of virtual reality technology; Douglas Coupland, author and commentator; Stewart Brand, author, scientist and co-creator of The Well on-line community; Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine; Harald Belker, car designer and John Underkoffler, the science and technology advisor for the movie. ILTA technology to automate it. The more sophisticated technology becomes, the more important this lesson. Finally, MINORITY REPORT illustrates that the human aspect of technology remains the central aspect. Humans select, implement, use (more accurately, rely on) and remediate technology. To the trainers and helpdesk folks out there, need we say more? You are our heroes. Our final lesson: our success as technologists ultimately resides in our success as change managers. That will be as true in 2020 as it is today. I digress, so let’s get back to the movie. Does all this mean that Tom Cruise’s character is ultimately innocent? Sorry — no spoilers on that one, my friends. You will just have to watch the movie to find out. You may want to watch it twice....once wearing your technology leader hat and once just for the sheer enjoyment. If MINORITY REPORT isn’t in your Netflix queue, make sure to add it; we’ll compare notes over a tasty beverage at ILTA’s annual conference. ILTA Joy Heath Rush is the Director of Enterprise Multimedia Services at Sidley Austin LLP, where she is responsible for audiovisual, presentation and video conferencing technology firmwide. Joy is in her 26th year with Sidley, where she started as a Word Processing Supervisor. Joy is on the steering committee for INSIGHT, ILTA’s award-winning U.K. educational event, serves as ILTA’s Strategic Relationship Liaison for Autonomy iManage and is ILTA’s immediate Past President. She previously served as Peer Group Liaison to the ILTA’s Board of Directors, Board Secretary, and Microsoft Peer Group Chair. She can be reached at jheathrush@sidley.com. Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 117