SUPREME
JUDICIAL COURT ANNOUNCES WEB POLICY
FOR
COURT CASE INFORMATION ON THE WEB
Boston, MA-The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court today announced a
policy regarding the publication of court case information on the Web. Under
the policy, the Trial and Appellate courts of the Commonwealth will, for the
first time, be authorized to make available to the general public easily accessible
information about court cases on one or more Internet sites. The Trial Court
and the Appellate Courts will debut Web sites complying with the policy in
the months ahead.
The
policy attempts to strike an appropriate balance between
the interests of the public, lawyers and litigants in finding
out about particular cases or hearings, and the privacy
interests of those involved in court cases. The Justices
noted that:
"In
adopting this policy, we recognize that the rapid pace
of technological development has added a new dimension
to efforts
by courts and others to balance privacy concerns with principles
of open access. The ramifications of publishing information
on the Web are qualitatively different from those of making
information publicly available at a courthouse. Information
published on the Web may be searched electronically, correlated
with information from other sources, and downloaded into
private databases. For these reasons, we have concluded,
at least initially, that an intermediate level of access
to court information is appropriate on the Web, one that
provides less information than is available at a courthouse."
In order to protect
privacy interests, the policy bars publication of individuals' home addresses,
telephone numbers, social security numbers and date of birth. The policy further
states that: "In response to the concerns underlying the Criminal Offender Record
Information (CORI) statute, G.L.c.6, § 172, this policy excludes from Trial
Court case information Web sites information that would identify a specific
criminal
defendant by name."
The
policy, however, encourages the publication of some information
about every case. The Justices stated that:
"Providing
case information on the Web will make courts more accessible
to the people who use them. Litigants and attorneys will
be able to check easily the status and scheduling of cases
in which they are involved. This policy will allow the
public to learn more about how the judicial system operates
by providing
basic information about individual cases. The availability
of case information on the Web should also reduce the number
of telephone calls to the courts seeking such information,
thereby freeing court personnel for other tasks."
The policy was based
on recommendations from the Trial Court's IT Project Advisory Board and from
a Web Advisory Board later appointed by the SJC, and on input received from
the Chief Justices of the Trial Court and the general public. The Justices stated
that they expect that the policy will be revised over time, as the courts,
lawyers
and the public gain experience with the Web publication of court data.
The
Web policy is effective immediately. The Trial Court will
have until December 31, 2003, to bring any existing systems
that provide court case information on the Web or at the
courthouse into compliance with this policy. The policy
is available on the court's Intranet site and can be accessed
on the Internet at www.state.ma.us/courts/webpubpolicy.pdf
