In the past, this all happened on paper. Stacks of paper with words and numbers and official seals got you things, like money or food stamps or even freedom. Now, though, those records are rarely magic without a digital element. Today, if someone tells you, “It says here you are a felon,” it’s usually a screen they’re looking at. Conversely, if the law changes and the act that made you a felon is no longer a crime, nothing is really different for you until the database is updated. The magic of law is now inextricably tied to the bits and bytes of computer code.
