Identity, Trust, and the Legal Foundations of Agentic Commerce: A Proposal for Trust in Depth

Identity, Trust, and the Legal Foundations of Agentic Commerce: A Proposal for Trust in Depth

In this episode of The SciTech Lawyer Perspective, host Aaron Gothelf sits down with David Fisher, Founder and CEO of Integra Ledger, a blockchain technology company focused on secure interoperability and trusted digital transactions for the legal industry, to discuss his paper, Identity, Trust, and the Legal Foundations of Agentic Commerce: A Proposal for Trust in Depth, coauthored with Bridget McCormack, President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association. The conversation explores how AI agents are rapidly transforming commerce by autonomously negotiating, transacting, and making decisions. At the same time, the trust infrastructure that has historically enabled markets to function, including identity, legal accountability, enforceable agreements, and dispute resolution, has not kept pace. Fisher explains the paper's proposed four-layer "trust in depth" framework, which connects AI agents to human identity, legal entities, enforceable agreements, and authorized delegation. The framework is designed to help agentic commerce scale within the legal and institutional foundations that have long supported human commerce. The original article can be accessed at: https://www.adr.org/news-and-insights/trust-framework-for-agentic-commerce-disputes/ [https://www.adr.org/news-and-insights/trust-framework-for-agentic-commerce-disputes/]

Consent as Friction: Rethinking Digital Consent

In this episode of The SciTech Lawyer Perspective, Host Donata Stroink-Skillrud sits down with Nikolas Guggenberger to discuss his concept of "consent as friction." The episode explores why modern digital consent often fails and how laywers, companies, and regulators should rethink the role of consent online.

The Expanding Digital Border: AI, Surveillance, and the Fight for Justice

In this episode of The SciTech Lawyer Perspective, Host Aaron Gothelf sits down with immigration attorney James Chesser and Kit Walsh of the Electronic Frontier Foundation to discuss James' Immigration and Human Rights Law Review article, "The Expanding Digital Border: AI, Surveillance, and the fight for Justice." The episode explores how borders are evolving into AI-driven "digital filters" that predict risk and intent, reshaping what it means to cross and raising urgent questions about accountability. The speakers examine whether these systems make immigration fairer or simply more opaque—and whether their errors are becoming harder to challenge. The original article can be accessed at: https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/ihrlr/vol7/iss1/2/ [https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/ihrlr/vol7/iss1/2/]

Defending the rule of law with ABA's ROLI

In this episode of The SciTech Lawyer Perspective, Host Donata Stroink-Skillrud sits down with Ravy Uong to discuss the work of American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative and its various projects defending the rule of law and Internet Freedom. They explore projects in Southeast Asia and Africa and how lawyers can help defend the rule of law. Invest in Justice, Build a Better World. For more information about ABA Rule of Law Initiatives or to support any ABA project, please visit the ABA Fund for Justice and Education webpage [https://giving.americanbar.org/pages/home-2656].

Why Silos Fail: Governing Cybersecurity, Privacy, and AI

In this episode of The SciTech Lawyer Perspective, host Donata Stroink-Skillrud sits down with Shannon Ralich, Vice President of Compliance and Chief Privacy Officer at Machinify, to explore why siloed governance models fail and how organizations can build integrated, future-ready programs.