LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard

BlackBerries: Breaking Up is (Too) Easy To Do

Now here's a very scary thought: Take your corporate BlackBerry or cell phone text messaging and use it for dating, flirting, e-mailing a late night rendezvous, or even breaking up with someone remotely (cowards!). As pop tech meets pop culture, people are doing just that. Techdirt has a riveting post re: how young Washington DC workers are finding that BlackBerries enable Just-In-Time dating.

You know you have a major problem when you have to take your BlackBerry in the shower with you:

"One woman dating a man who works on Capitol Hill said he has taken his BlackBerry into the bathroom with him when showering, to keep her from snooping. 'I admit I would have snooped, because he's a total player in Washington, and I would have wanted to see who else he was dating,' said the woman, a 31-year-old television producer who asked to remain anonymous.

Many users caution against taking the BlackBerry out for a night on the town. Drunken Berrying — like drunken dialing — can be dangerous, or at least regrettable.

'The BlackBerry is so mobile, you can just pull it out and start saying idiotic things right away,' said Danielle Baussan, a 28-year-old lawyer in Washington. 'In contrast, in the time it takes for you to get home to your computer you might have sobered up.'

'It's actually worse than drunk-dialing,' she said, 'because at least they know you are drunk. But if you drunk-Berry, they're not so sure.'"

(Double-Yikes: It doesn't just have a name, but a verb, "Drunk-Berrying".)

This is like a 1L final exam -- see if you can spot the numerous issues.