Patrick Leahy: “The federal judiciary is grappling with the issue of how to put additional court filings online while providing…”

“The federal judiciary is grappling with the issue of how to put additional court filings online while providing appropriate levels of privacy protection and security for the information in those records. Bankruptcy records, for example, contain all kinds of highly sensitive personal and financial information, including social security, bank and credit card account numbers; medical history; and child support and alimony information. This information may pertain to the debtor but also to many other people who are creditors or simply associated or employed by the debtor. These records have traditionally been available to the public for perusal by individuals who went to the court house, requested the records, and physically reviewed the hard copies. This was an open process, but it was cumbersome. The inefficiency of obtaining data provided its own protective shield. For the most part, only those with a legitimate interest in bankruptcy court data took the trouble to collect it. As courts increasingly go online, however, personal information such as that contained in court filings may be posted on the Internet available for some legitimate uses but also vulnerable to misuse or objectionable re-use. In some cases, personal information of parties with only limited interest in a bankruptcy case can be widely distributed and posted online.…”