Transcript Presentation

Guilt or Innocence in ECommerce: Knowledge-power in a
criminal trial
OASIS Conference, December 12, 2004
Dr. Mike Chiasson
Management Information Systems
Haskayne School of Business
A Legal Story…
Woman charged with criminal fraud
 Multi-level marketing of web-site hosting
(SkyBiz)
 I was involved as an expert witness in ecommerce
 Interesting points of power-knowledgeinterests
 The construction of guilt
 The construction of innocence
 The verdict

The Construction of Guilt





Murky origins
1930s legislation – cannot run a lottery
Crown’s case never entirely clear
Tries to prove that the product has no
value (web-site hosting) – merely a mask
for a scheme
Does “ping” tests and checks utilization of
web-sites – both low
Construction of Innocence
Retired school teacher – finding a new
career after service the public good
 Expert witness testimony strikes down
utilization, low to no value of web hosting,
and ping tests

The Verdict





Found guilty
Judge sifts through “expert” testimony –
rules that a drug addict had the most
reliable testimony
Considers defense expert witnesses as
tainted and biased from one report
comment…
She is herself a former prosecutor of
MLM cases
Spread of verdict to Australia, and FTC in
the US
Where to from Here?
Taken me some time to get the paper
 Where to publish?
 Management implications (if any)?
 Various theoretical possibilities

Latour: actor network
 Foucault: knowledge-power
 Confessional tale…

Others?
 Or do I just tell the story first…
