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California Expands Online Access To Court Records.Author/s: - Brian Krebs California's Judicial Council voted Wednesday to allow online public access to court documents in most civil cases, while restricting remote access to criminal records and other cases likely to contain sensitive personal information. The new rules apply to all California superior courts, and will take effect July 1, 2002. California will join some two dozen other states that currently offer some form of electronic access to court records over the Internet, either through state-run or private, for-profit subscription services. The decision caps a six-year review by the Judicial Council's Court Technology Advisory Committee, which has struggled to strike a balance between allowing public access to court documents and protecting the privacy of often deeply personal information contained in the records. Under the new rules, California courts will provide electronic access to basic information about all cases via computer terminals at the courthouse or remotely over the Internet. The data will include court calendars, case titles and indexes, as well as a dated memo of every subsequent proceeding in the action. Courts may opt to release additional information on civil records on a "case-by-case basis." The rules also prohibit the "bulk distribution" of its records other than calendars, registers, and indexes. Citing privacy concerns, the state judicial council voted to restrict Web access to criminal records, as well as documents related to family law, juvenile, guardianship, mental health and civil harassment cases. Such documents will only be made available electronically at the courthouse. The Judicial Council's decision comes on the heels of a similar development at the federal court level. In September, the policy- making body for the federal judiciary approved a plan to offer Web-based access to federal civil and bankruptcy court filings, provided that certain personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers, birth dates and account numbers are redacted from the records. The federal courts similarly chose to exclude electronic access to criminal case records, but promised to revisit the issue within the next two years. That promise amounts to a critical distinction for reporters and news outlets that have relentlessly lobbied state and federal courts to release more information from criminal records. The San Jose Mercury News has sued Santa Clara County Superior Court in an effort to gain access to the court's case management system, claiming the records are public and should be made freely available. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she was disappointed that the California judiciary opted for "a blanket restriction on releasing criminal documents. "The other thing I found disappointing was their prohibition on bulk data, because there are some very interesting stories that can be done if the public and the press have access to comparative data and can identify trends in cases," Dalglish said. Dalglish said it remains unclear how much detailed information will be contained in case indexes, registers and calendars. "Without seeing what these listings will actually look like, it's difficult to say just how useful they're going to be," she said. (20011220 /WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS, TELECOM/SEEYOUCOURT/PHOTO) COPYRIGHT 2001 Newsbytes News Network
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