John Rumpelein wrote:
Doug,
I'm no lawyer, but it is hard to understand how a message which no
human will ever see could be considered binding on the people who
operate the
company.
Actually, the federal E-Sign Act (enacted in 2000) provides
that a contract
may not be denied legal effect because it was created by one or more
electronic agents (computer programs designed to act
independently without
contemporaneous human participation).
The point is not whether or not a "contract" can be in electronic form (I
agree this is possible) but whether two people can enter into a contract
when only one of them is aware of its existence. The answer, I think, is
no.
No, only insofar as the "contract" not being an official recognized
standard with requirements for compliance and methods for interrogating it.
If the standards evolve to make asking and answering the question
feasible in an automated fashion, then laws can evolve to make
compliance mandatory.
And remember as well, law is already evolving to recognize that
"spamming" is universally frowned upon, and that "senders of spam" can
no longer evade responsibility by saying "I never read the recipient
server's AUP".
[See Verizon vs. Ralsky, and comments at the MIT spam forum from the
lawyer who does spam cases.]
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