“This is our world now … the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud.”

Those words were written in 1986, well before the modern internet, in what became known as the “Hacker Manifesto.” The essay not only articulated the ethos of sometimes mischievous computer tinkerers, but underscored how technology was upending the old order of things.

More than three decades later, technology has revolutionized the world in ways that would have been hard to anticipate then. We walk around with computers in our pocket that recognize our faces and broadcast our location. Energy-sucking server farms solve complex math problems and create hundreds of millions of dollars in value—that can be erased in a blink.

All of this change has brought enormous challenges to the law. The same year the manifesto was written, Congress passed the Stored Communications Act, a statute courts have struggled to interpret in the context of this newfangled thing called the “cloud.” The result has been a topsy-turvy landscape for companies and law enforcement—one that maybe, maybe, will get smoothed out by the Supreme Court.

In this environment, keeping up with how the law is evolving is not an easy thing either. That's why we've decided to launch What's Next, a weekly email news briefing on law, technology and the future to keep you ahead of the curve.

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➤➤ Click here to sign up.

The “future,” of course, is an inherently nebulous thing to try and define. So what will What's Next cover, and who is it for?

The subject areas I'll be following come under two broad headings: 1) How the law is coping (or not) with technology; and 2) How technology is changing the practice of law. In the first category, for example, I would examine how regulators and courts might approach the problem of bias in AI. In the latter category, I would look at how lawyers are using AI to build more efficient litigation practices.

That answer should have tipped you off as to who this briefing is for: lawyers, obviously—but more specifically litigators and other attorneys who advise technology clients or practice in the fields of cybersecurity, international data privacy, internet law and fintech.

I'm also hoping this will be a stimulating read for legal academics, activists, regulators and researchers who work on digital rights and surveillance issues, as well as in-house counsel at technology and fintech companies. In addition, I'm writing for legal tech company executives and law firm IT experts who are their customers.

That's a broad group, I recognize, and I don't anticipate every item I cover will be directly relevant to everyone. But I think there's enough of an overlap in that Venn Diagram such that each item will at least be interesting to most readers.

With that principle in mind, I'll add that while the core of what I'll be covering includes technologies like digital surveillance and cryptocurrency, I may occasionally veer into other innovations affecting the law that aren't directly related to tech, such as litigation finance. That's in part because I find the area fascinating. But it also falls into this broader theme of the future of law and—I posit—is relevant to the same audience. Don't believe me? Take a look at how DreamHost Inc. and hiQ turned to the online litigation funding platform CrowdJustice to help bankroll their suits against the Department of Justice and LinkedIn, respectively, and rally public support.

A main feature of the briefing—in fact, all of the great new briefings that my colleagues are putting out—is that it will be skimmable and quick to digest.

I know you're busy. I know you're overloaded reading too many emails and news items. That's why throughout the briefing, I'll be calling out key points that you need to know so you can move on. And for those prone to thinking darkly every now and then, the briefing will also include a regular “dose of dystopia” about the legal aspects of tech going awry. (Think “The Hunger Games,” but for lawyers.)

At the end of the Hacker Manifesto, its author confesses his crime—“that of curiosity.” Attorneys specializing in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act might see more shades of gray there. But in an age where information is everything and technology is always changing, it's hard to debate the value of staying curious and thinking ahead.

I hope you'll sign up for a free trial here and read to see What's Next.