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