One day, Instant Messaging will be as powerful as this:

Excerpt from: 
http://www.mindjack.com/feature/est.html

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Eastern Standard Tribe

by: Cory Doctorow


He stepped away and fired up his comm and tunnelled to a pseudonymous 
relay, bouncing the call off a dozen mixmasters. He was, after all, in deep 
cover as a GMTalist, and it wouldn't do to have his enciphered packets' 
destination in the clear -- a little traffic analysis and his cover'd be blown. 
He velcroed the keyboard to his thigh and started chording.

Trepan: Any EU lawyers on the channel?

Gink-Go: Lawyers. Heh. Kill 'em all. Specially eurofag fixers.

Junta: Hey, I resemble that remark

Trepan: Junta, you're an EU lawyer?

Gink-Go: Use autocounsel, dude. L{ia|awye}rs suck. Channel #autocounsel. 
Chatterbot with all major legal systems on the backend.

Trepan: Whatever. I need a human lawyer.

Trepan: Junta, you there?

Gink-Go: Off raping humanity.

Gink-Go: Fuck lawyers.

Trepan: /shitlist Gink-Go

##Gink-Go added to Trepan's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

Gink-Go: 

Gink-Go: 

Gink-Go: 

Gink-Go: 

##Gink-Go added to Junta's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

##Gink-Go added to Thomas-hawk's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

##Gink-Go added to opencolon's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

##Gink-Go added to jackyardbackoff's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

##Gink-Go added to freddy-kugel's shitlist. Use '/unshit Gink-Go' to see messages again

opencolon: Trolls suck. Gink-Go away.

Gink-Go: 

Gink-Go: 

Gink-Go: 

##Gink-Go has left channel #EST.chatter

Junta: You were saying?

##Junta (private) (file transfer) 

##Received credential from Junta. Verifying. 
Credential identified: "Licensed to practice private law in the EU, Switzerland, Belarus."

Trepan: /private Junta I just hit a woman while driving the Kensington High. 
Her fault. She's banged up. Wants me to admit culpability in exchange 
for half the insurance. Advice?

##Junta (private): I beg your pardon? 

Trepan: /private Junta She's crazy. She just got off the phone with some 
kinda lawyer in the States. Says she can get $5*10^5 at least, and will 
split with me if I don't dispute. 

##Junta (private): Bloody Americans. No offense. What kind of instrumentation 
recorded it?

Trepan: /private Junta My GPS. Maybe some secams. Eyewitnesses, maybe.

##Junta (private): And you'll say what, exactly? That you were distracted? 
Fiddling with something?

Trepan: /private Junta I guess.

##Junta (private): You're looking at three points off your permit. Statuatory 
increase in premiums totalling 2*10^5 Sterling over five years. How's your record?

##Transferring credential "Driving record" to Junta. Receipt confirmed.

##Junta (private): Hmmm.

##Junta (private): Nothing outrageous. _Were_ you distracted?

Trepan: /private Junta I guess. Maybe.

##Junta (private): You guess. Well, who would know better than you, right? 
My fee's 10 percent. Stop guessing. You _were_ distracted. Overtired. It's late. 
Regrettable. Sincerely sorry. Have her solicitor contact me directly. 
I'll meet you here at 1000h GMT/0400h EDT and go over it with you, yes? 
Agreeable?

Trepan: /private Junta Agreed. Thanks.

##Junta (private) (file transfer) 

##Received smartcontract from Junta. Verifying. 
Smartcontract "Representation agreement" verified.

Trepan: /join #autocounsel

counselbot: Welcome, Trepan! How can I help you?

##Transferring smartcontract "Representation agreement" to counselbot. 
Receipt confirmed.

Trepan: /private counselbot What is the legal standing of this contract?

##counselbot (private): Smartcontract "Representation agreement" is an ISO 
standard representation agreement between a client and an attorney for purposes 
of litigation in the UK. 

##autocounsel (private) (file transfer) 

##Received "representation agreement faq uk 2.3.2 2JAN22" from autocounsel. 

Trepan: /join #EST.chatter

Trepan: /private Junta It's a deal

##Transferring key-signed smartcontract "Representation agreement" to Junta. 
Receipt confirmed.

Trepan: /quit Gotta go, thanks!

##Trepan has left channel #EST.chatter "Gotta go, thanks!"

back

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bio:
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction writer, journalist and technocrat.
His first novel, "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom," will be published by Tor Books in 
the Fall of 2002. He is the co-founder of OpenCola, Inc. and is the co-editor of BoingBoing. 
His last book was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction (co-written with Karl Schroeder). 
He lives in San Francisco and Toronto.