Emojis now admissible as court evidence
The trial of alleged Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has been expectedly internet-y. The case against the darknet pioneer has already included mentions of his sappy online diary, his PMs, his OKCupid profile, and explaining to old people what Bitcoin is. But in a new twist and legal first, a judge has ruled that Ulbricht's use of emojis is essential to understanding court transcripts.
He said “emoticon” literally every time there was an emoticon pic.twitter.com/deisI0nSEH
— Sarah Jeong (@sarahjeong) January 23, 2015
A prosecutor had been reading a quote from Ulbricht's PMs, saying, "I'm so excited and anxious for our future, I could burst", but notably omitted an emoji that followed. Ulbricht's defense attorney, Joshua L. Dratel objected to the omission and the judge agreed. Or perhaps gave a thumbs-up emoji.