@INFO.POLICY

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Last year, the federal courts developed privacy rules for electronic records to keep the lives of persons entangled in bankruptcy and other cases from being exposed through open court records. I am not talking about judicial opinions, but about briefs and other filings that contain the nitty-gritty details.

Last year, the federal courts developed privacy rules for electronic records to keep the lives of persons entangled in bankruptcy and other cases from being exposed through open court records. I am not talking about judicial opinions, but about briefs and other filings that contain the nitty-gritty details.Privacy concerns are greater for documents available online than for those that exist on paper. The Judicial Conference came up with a policy that balances access and privacy interests. The policy generated many comments, but almost everyone overlooked a more outrageous feature of access to judicial records: the fees.Look at it from a citizen's viewpoint: If you want electronic access to court records, you have to pay. Access to legislative documents and most online executive branch documents is free. But you pay for court documents.How much? The amount isn't the point. Dial-up access is 60 cents a minute, and using an Internet site costs 7 cents per page.Dial-up? Per-page charges? Welcome to the 1980s. Not only must visitors pay for access, but they also are forced to use outdated technology and sometimes outdated software.Those who need access in a hurry are out of luck. They register online for the service but wait two weeks for the courts to snail-mail a password. What are the courts really delivering in exchange for their fees? Bad service.Why charge at all? The courts blame Congress, and there could be some legitimacy to that, but the courts have never shown any interest in being advocates for public users. For decades, courts charged 50 cents a page to copy documents. Lawyers never cared. They merely passed the charges along to clients. No one speaks for the public, so the public is poorly served.What about the privacy policy for the court's online-access site? It says that no personal information is transferred to any third party. How can anyone promise that? What if hackers get in or someone doesn't pay the bill?The policy also says that a person can be prosecuted for modifying data on the site. OK, but that contradicts the privacy policy.In other words, the privacy and security policies are wrong, incomplete and inconsistent. They read like something written by an unsupervised first-year law student. If you want to review the documents for yourself, go to .It is time for Congress to step in and require the U.S. courts to comply with basic government information policies. Judicial records that are public should be freely available on the Internet, and judicial Web sites should meet minimum standards for user privacy and security. The best way to do this is to apply the Freedom of Information Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Maybe the Privacy Act, too.The Administrative Office will, of course, scream for judicial independence. But if judicial independence is an excuse for incompetence and bad policy, we can do with a little less of it.

Robert Gellman



















www.uscourts.gov/electaccrt.html





Robert Gellman is a Washington privacy and information policy consultant. E-mail him at rgellman@cais.com.
X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.