Misinformation is one of society’s current challenges. While technological tools increase access to useful and crucial information, they also facilitate the spread of false information.
Misinformation is inaccurate information published as truth. If the information is intentionally deceptive, it is called disinformation. The term “fake news” also refers to false or misleading information presented as fact. If you are struggling with evaluating information, particularly legal information, this article will help you.
The pitfalls of legal misinformation
When dealing with a legal problem, especially if you do not have a lawyer, sorting through false or misleading information is confusing and a waste of time. Worse, you could incur further legal troubles by relying on incorrect information. The enormous amount of information online can make research tedious and frustrating, especially if you find opposite opinions or facts on different sites.
Sometimes you may find authentic information that looks convincing but does not apply to your case – such as information from a different jurisdiction or outdated information.
So how do we prevent finding and using the wrong facts when researching the law?
What to look for
Librarians are specially trained to find accurate information from the best resources and in the most efficient manner. We have a trick or two under our sleeves that can help you find what you need and identify misinformation. The guidelines for finding correct legal information have not changed with technology.
1. Check the source
In print, this means verifying the publisher and author of articles and books to ensure they are reliable. In the online world, this translates to checking the source of the website or the author of a social media posting.
So, what are the best sources of “true” information? There are many official and/or reliable sources. These are some of my favourites:
- CPLEA – creates resources that help people understand their rights and obligations under the law. Visit their website to get an understanding of the law as it applies to Alberta.
- CanLII – provides free access to current and historical judicial decisions, as well as legislation, from all over Canada.
- Alberta Law Libraries – Visit the library website for more links to trusted sources of legal information, including Research Guides on many different topics.
2. Check the jurisdiction
The law is not the same in Alberta as it is in Ontario, or New Zealand. At the library we have seen people search the internet and find a perfect piece of legislation, article or judicial decision that responds to their needs, without noticing that the information in question does not apply to Alberta.
Laws, and judicial decisions, from other provinces or countries will not help you.
CPLEA’s information applies only to Alberta. However, CanLII includes laws and information from other provinces. Always use the filter feature to ensure that you have the right jurisdiction.
3. Check the date
The laws change rapidly, and decisions may be overturned (reversed) in time. If you find a piece of legislation in CanLII that responds to your needs, make sure that you are looking at the most current version (sometimes, the applicable law is the one that was in place when your legal issue took place; make sure to check this too).
CanLII lets you know at the top of the document if the version you are looking at is the most current, or you can use the “Versions” tab to look for other dates. If you are looking for judicial decisions, check the “History” and “Treatment” tabs to ensure the decision was not overturned and to find more recent decisions on the topic. If you find an article from a law firm or from CPLEA, make sure that it is not obsolete by going to the source website and checking the information there.
Is AI the solution?
Do you use Chat GPT or other similar AI chatbots to find information? Although they are getting more sophisticated, the AI chatbots on the web can include misinformation as part of their response, expressing it in a way that looks accurate and professional. Sometimes they even invent information themselves! These inventions, or hallucinations, have been well studied – see the Stanford University study Hallucinating Law: Legal Mistakes with Large Language Models are Pervasive. AI bots are particularly good at writing well. The content of what they write, however, can be utterly wrong! (for some examples of legal research gone very wrong because of hallucinations, see B.C. lawyer reprimanded for citing fake cases invented by ChatGPT or Lawyer Used ChatGPT In Court—And Cited Fake Cases. A Judge Is Considering Sanctions).
The future of AI in legal information is exciting and progressing rapidly, but you should not rely on free open-source services without checking them. Go back to our #1 tip – check the source. Who is putting out the information? CanLII uses AI to analyze cases, and some legal databases use AI to extract information from decisions. They use “grounded” AI algorithms, which take information only from the documents within the database, already selected as reliable information. So, whereas AI will be a revolutionary tool, and is already assisting with information and research, the three rules above still apply: Check the source; Check the jurisdiction; Check the date!
If you have questions, or for more in-depth research, I invite you to check the Alberta Law Libraries webpage. There, you will find more ideas for authentic legal resources and can take advantage of our remote access to many legal databases that will help you be legally well-informed.
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DISCLAIMER The information in this article was correct at time of publishing. The law may have changed since then. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of LawNow or the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.
About Ana San Miguel
