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Newsletter SignupIt was a battle against the elements to get to this year’s LegalTech New York show. We heard some horror stories of massive flight delays, cancellations, and getting rerouted, but those who were able to make it to New York conquered the slushy streets and combination of rain and snow for some great speakers, networking, and products. Here are a few of our highlights.
Jason Thomas, Chief Innovator for Thomson Reuters, presented the opening keynote. Noticeably nerdy for video games and technology, Thomas’s presentation was a delightful, and sometimes unnerving, analysis of how technology, particularly the Internet, is changing the future of crime. Perhaps underscoring the entire presentation was his statement that even criminals need to have a web presence.
TOR is essentially an anonymous Internet browser. The website describes Tor as “a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet” and originally designed with the U.S. Navy in mind. It is where crime sites like the notorious Silk Road are hosted. While Thomas walked attendees through the basics and showed some items for purchase online (a kilo of cocaine anyone?), just as you began to feel you were getting an exciting look at something secret he showed a directory of sites for hitmen, human trafficking, sex with children, and more. The ease of accessibility to these sites was chilling and only furthered when it was pointed out that the payment system for these sites was Bitcoin.
Photo credit: @philweldon
Bitcoin has garnered a lot of attention from the media this year, most recently with the $2.6 million hack the Silk Road has pledged to pay back to affected users. Forbes Senior Online Editor Kashmir Hill lived off of Bitcoin for a week, and Bob Ambrogi and J Craig Williams covered the topic in one of their January podcasts: The Legal Issues Behind Bitcoin’s Rise to Popularity. The Internet currency is anonymous and associated only with serial numbers. Thomas shared a photo from a Bitcoin conference he’d attended, where he’d watched an attendee deposit less than $2,000 cash into a Bitcoin ATM and withdraw $75,000 a few minutes later. Perhaps it was because we were fresh off the discussion of hiring hitmen using bitcoin, the big payday made me a little uneasy.
The presentation gave many a new look at the tech-savvy and sophisticated world of crime. By the end of the presentation, Thomas, along with many who live-tweeting the keynote, had coined the term CaaS: Crime as a service.
Twitter reactions:
How to hire a hitman and buy cocaine via #bitcoin. Bet you didn’t think this is what you’d learn at #LTNY.
— Leah (@RealLawLTNY) February 4, 2014
#ltny Some of the hidden marketplaces discussed here I don’t even feel comfortable tweeting about. Awful stuff.
— Larry Port (@larryport) February 4, 2014
Thoughts from #LTNY keynote – with things like Tor, Bitcoin: CaaS: Crime as a service? #LegalTech
— Elizabeth Farrell (@elizabethf) February 4, 2014
LexisNexis FirmManager hosted the bloggers’ breakfast, which included a panel from four leading bloggers within the industry. In anticipation of the event, LexisNexis released a list of 25 Essential Legal Bloggers. It’s a great resource worth checking out.
Photo credit: @trentcarlyle
On the panel were . . .
The panel brought some great ideas and differing philosophies about selecting topics, writing quick posts versus more in-depths one, and how as bloggers it’s still difficult to predict what is going to perform well until after it’s published. It was a great way to kick off day two of the conference. Thanks, LexisNexis for the invite and for including Legal Talk Network on your list of essential bloggers!
The exhibition halls were massive and packed with great products and resources. As usual, there were plenty of cool things at the booths. Here are a few that caught our eye.
Tiki Barber at the Kiersted booth
Photo credit: @LegalTechShow
Huron Legal’s Oxygen Bar
Photo credit: @lisasolomon
Catalyst’s Rolling Papers
Photo credit: @bobambrogi
Bridgeway’s mini texas pecan pies
Photo credit: @atlblog
There were a number of other great eye-catchers in the exhibition hall. Overall it was a great show and we can’t wait to attend next year.
Limited slides and information from the conference can be downloaded here.
