The Virtual Woman: A Woman's
Weekly Guide To Cyberspace
Internet Rules for Legal Advice
Thomas Jefferson, third Prez and author of the Declaration of Independence (busy guy he was) nailed it but good when he declared, "This is a nation of laws, not of men." Hmmm. I wonder what he’d think of the litigious state we've gotten ourselves into 170 years later. He'd pick up a paper and probably gag. Or, if he ended up relocating to California, he'd quickly learn that suing and being sued is all part and parcel of putting down roots. Anyway, laws are made up of words and most words (along with most lawyers) are finding their way onto my turf, the Web. So if you've ever found yourself at the short end of the gavel (or if you're just curious) fire up that modem and check out the legal links highlighted in this week's column.
Dear Virtual Woman:
How else can I say this:
My husband is a jerk. For a long time, I've been thinking about divorcing
him, but I'm afraid of lawyers taking advantage of me. Is there somewhere I
can go online to find a good lawyer?
- Strapping on the Walking Boots in Boston
Dear Bootstrapping:
If your issues with your husband are irreconcilable (as they sound like they well may be) then turn to Lawyers.Com (http://www.lawyers.com). This website lists the bios of over 420,000 lawyers (yep, indeed, that's about the population of Wyoming). You can search for lawyers by practice area and geographic location. The Lawyers.com site also offers informational essays about all sorts of different topic areas which may help you better understand your legal rights. Another great site is Divorce Source at http://www.divorcesource.com. This site is packed with information, most of which is customized by state. Click on your state and you'll get Legal Aspects, Family and Financial Issues and Valuations categories, customized for your location. The information is free and immensely helpful. For example, under Legal Aspects, you can read about Client/Attorney Team issues and find out how exactly to go about choosing a lawyer for yourself.
If you're wary of turning your divorce over to a dude (or dudette) in a black robe, a popular alternative to divorce litigation is mediation. In this form of dispute resolution, a trained professional assists the parties in communicating positions with the hope that a collaborative agreement can be reached. The Mediation Information and Resource Center (MIRC) located at http://www.mediate.com offers a searchable directory of mediators and a wide variety of resources about mediation. The MIRC reports that mediation generally leads to cheaper, faster, and more mutually satisfying outcomes so it may be worth exploring.
Dear Virtual Woman:
I've heard from friends
that employers have the legal right to read employee email. Is this true?
Could you direct me somewhere online for information that will help me keep
my sexy emails to my boyfriend safe from my boss's prying eyes?
- Curious in San Francisco
Dear Curious:
Ah yes. This is actually a very common concern amongst many of my readers. And seriously, is there anyone on the planet with a work email address that doesn't do some personal correspondence? (If so, if any of you know of anyone, write to me and I'll devote a whole column to them. I promise). Anyway, while there haven't been many court rulings on the subject, employers in most jurisdictions are permitted to read employee email. Many companies, however, have a formal written policy regarding the privacy of employee email. Check in with your boss or your employee handbook to see what privacy policy your firm has in place.
If your company does not maintain a strong privacy protection policy, then best to check out the Electronic Privacy Information Center at http://www.epic.org . EPIC is a nonprofit research center established to focus public attention on civil liberty issues on the Internet. Once at the EPIC site, click on the Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools heading. There you will find a variety of links to sites where privacy software can be downloaded onto your computer. Additionally, check out Pretty Good Privacy. PGP encrypts your email messages and can be downloaded for free at http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html PGP can be a little daunting to set up, but once you're using PGP, my guess is it would probably take twenty years or more for even the FBI to decipher your emails. By that time, chances are you'll either have a new job or a new boyfriend (or both!)
Happy Surfing!
Find these links and more at WWWomen.Com (http://www.wwwomen.com) the web's largest search directory of topics for women online. Email the Virtual Woman with your Internet questions or send snailmail to: WWWomen.Com, Attn: Virtual Woman, 3701 Geary Blvd., #325, S.F., CA 94118. Copyright, 1998. WWWomen, Inc. All rights reserved.
This column can only be re-distributed with written
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Contributing Editor: Rhett Dunlap
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