Eighth Annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference

July 6, 2011 by Rick Sanders | Category: Blawg, Blog | Tags: #SLSecomm2011, big picture, consumer-technology disconnect, eCommerce, Fogel, internet, jurisprudence, market distortion, market dynamics

Eighth Annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference, Part 1
Stanford, CA, June 24, 2011

As my Twitter followers know, on June 24, I attended a full-day conference at Stanford University, the Eight Annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference.  It was definitely worth going out to California to attend.  I was tweeting throughout, but I thought it’d be a good idea to gather the tweets together into a single blog entry.

There’s a lot to discuss, so I’ll break this down into four or five blog entries.  I’ll start first with the thought-provoking keynote speech.

United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel, of the Northern District of California, gave the keynote speech to the conference.  His main concern was the tension or even disconnect between (a) consumer experience of eCommerce (and the Internet in general), (b) the technologists who enable and profit from eCommerce, and (c) the applicable law.  The law is simply ill equipped to resolve this tension.  This isn’t a new concern by any means, but it was being expressed thoughtfully by a sitting federal judge who routinely hears technology cases.

What drives eCommerce lawsuits, according to Judge Fogel, is the consumer’s sense of “identity and expectation.”  He referenced a few celebrated … Read More»