Online Court Records Causing Problems
from the getting-rid-of-practical-obscurity-not-such-a-good-thing- dept
Court records are public documents. However, it’s not likely your neighbor is going to go look up how many speeding tickets you’ve received, or if you were once arrested for hitting your spouse. That takes a little too much effort… unless all that data is on the web (NY Times, registration blah blah). The county court clerk in Cinicinnatti thought it would be a good idea to put the court records online. They are public documents, after all, and they were already scanned into a digital format. It seemed like a no brainer, until everyone realized what sort of info was being shared – and everyone started spying on everyone else.
Comments on “Online Court Records Causing Problems”
No Subject Given
So people are upset that public information is accessable by the public?
A criminal record is a matter of public record, and the public has the right to see that justice is being done.
There is no law saying that public records can be effectively hidden behind ineffective document management, which is what the web replaces.
Public records=easily accessible
I agree with the other poster. If something is deemed a public record, then it should be easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it. Claiming that something is public record and then making the public file paperwork, pay a fee, and wait weeks or months is wrong.
Now this realization may make us rethink what should be classified as public records, and I am all in favor of that–careful consideration and public debate should take place for these decisions, but once we decide it’s a public document, anyone should have easy access.
I’m not sure how I feel about requiring ID and tracking who accesses certain documents. I can see a decent security/public saftey argument being made. Maybe the best solution is to require some sort of identification (and IP tracking and that too) but require it to be sealed and only accessible with a valid search warrant. That way both the public safety and individual privacy are preserved.
steve snyder
A non-issue
Why is this an issue? As the other posters mention, public records are free to anyone who walks into the court house to see them. No ID required, nothing. Why any sort of special identification or tracking process should take place for online access is beyond me. To modify Scheier’s axiom, I guess the objectors believe in privacy by obscurity?
No Subject Given
People don’t like being spied on. That’s the reason people are upset. Of the three previous posters only one offered to fill in their name when given the option to. The others decided that they wanted a degree of privacy. I guess they’re bad people too… just like me.
This is _good_
It may be embarrassing for the parties concerned, but there’s a good reason the US constitution bars secret arrests, and why this issue has been so hot lately!
Access to Court Records
As an entrepreneur, and author of an e-book on how to beat a speeding ticket, What do you think would be the most effective way to collect the names, addresses, emails of people who have decided to contest their tickets, both locally and on a more global field.
Thanks