They can file documents at the last minute or check up on a case from their home computers in their pajamas, if they wish. But also appearing on the bankruptcy court site are Social Security numbers and other sensitive information, including creditors names and addresses, and bank account information required in bankruptcy petitions. The Internet also makes that information available to any user with a Web browser and a modicum of curiosity. And that makes judges, lawyers and privacy advocates plenty nervous. In the race to digitize cases from start to finish, many of them are screaming to put the brakes on.
Privacy rights are being trampled in the quest for greater efficiency, they say.
Courts, state legislatures and other agencies are heeding the call and slowing down to consider new policies on access to court files. Access policies have been lacking because court documents have been logistically hard to get, Dooley says. Until electronic access, they were available only on paper at the courthouse where they were filed. Traditionally, the court clerk has served as a gatekeeper, sometimes granting requests for documents, at other times declining to do so. But the procedure provided a shield to the personal information often found in court files.