CBC Interview on Courts and Tweets

In last week's episode of Spark, CBC Radio's show on digital culture, host Nora Young interviewed Patrick Cormier, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology (CCCT), about social media in the courtroom. The Cormier interview is at the beginning of the show and lasts about 12 minutes.

The discussion covered the wide range of rules and practices in Canada, the different considerations surrounding the use of social media by reporters, court personnel, lawyers and jurors, as well as the CCCT's Draft National Guidelines Regarding the Use of Electronic Communication Devices in Court Proceedings (Twitter, blogging etc.). As one can see in the CCCT's very useful compilation of existing court policies on the issue from across the country, rules are truly all over the map.

South the of the border, there is a bulletin called Connected that covers the impact of new social media such as Twitter and Facebook on court proceedings, the ethical implications of judges and court staff using new media, and court policy issues relating to these technologies.

It is published by the Virginia-based National Center for State Courts and the Conference of Court Public Information Officers.

Most of the stories are about the United States, but there is occasionally material about non-US matters.