After a two year study into the privacy implications of making federal court documents available to members of the public on-line through a single web based system known as PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), the judicial panel endorsed limited access to court documents on the web.
It recommends that any personal identifiers such as social security or bank account numbers be modified by, for example, using only the last four digits.
The panel also states that it does not support making documents relating to criminal cases available on-line, as the benefits “were outweighed by the safety and law enforcement risks such access would create”.
The report has been welcomed by US privacy groups and will be considered when the full Judicial Conference of the US meets on 11th September.
Recently in the UK, a controversial proposal to publish on the internet the names of people involved in employment tribunals was abandoned amid privacy concerns and fears that it would encourage blacklisting within industry.