What is your e-mail address?
My e-mail address is:

Do you have a password?
Forgot your password? Click here
close

Close

Lieberman questions courts on information-sharing law

The federal court system may be charging too much money for public online documents and may not be adequately protecting private information in those documents, according to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Lieberman on Feb. 27 sent a letter to the policy-making Judicial Conference of the United States requesting further information on whether the federal courts are complying with the provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002.

Under that law, court documents are electronically released through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, which charges recipients eight cents a page.

Lieberman questioned whether the fees are too high, given that the records system appears to be charging more than what is needed to cover its expenses. He also raised concerns about whether the records system is adequately serving the public and protecting the information.

”Seven years after the passage of the E-Government Act, it appears that little has been done to make these records freely available – with PACER charging a higher rate than 2002,” Lieberman wrote. “Furthermore, the funds generated by these fees are still well higher than the cost of dissemination, as the Judiciary Information Technology Fund had a surplus of approximately $150 million in FY2006.”

Lieberman also cited a recent investigation by the nonprofit PublicResource.org that indicated personal information is not being redacted from the records.

“Given the sensitivity of this information and the potential for identity theft or worse, I would like the court to review the steps they take to ensure this information is protected and report to [a Senate committee] on how this provision has been implemented as we work to increase public access to court records,” Lieberman wrote.

Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote to Lee Rosenthal, chairman of the judicial conference’s Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure.

About the Author

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer for Federal Computer Week.

Reader comments

Mon, Mar 23, 2009 Connecticut

After reading the above information, I feel that Pacer does redact personal information. As a consumer reporting agency, it is more difficult to match the person with the records and makes it very confusing for our clients and the prospective employees. Most of the time we can only match if there is an address available, otherwise it is only a name match which does not benefit anyone. Also, Pacer has issued us a login code. They know who we are and invoice us as well.

Please post your comments here. Comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately after submitting. We will not post comments that we consider abusive or off-topic.

Your Name:(optional)
Your Email:(optional)
Your Location:(optional)
Comment:
Please type the letters/numbers you see above

eSeminar

  • Where Cyberwarfare and Cybersecurity Meet

    We invite you to attend the third event in this three-part series on Cybersecurity. 1105 Government Information Group will present a panel of government and cybersecurity experts including Gregory T. Garcia, the nation's first presidentially-appointed Assistant Secretary for CyberSecurity and Communications with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2006-2008; and Jeffrey Carr, cyber strategies consultant and author of Inside Cyber Warfare, in this editorial webcast on Tuesday, April 13 at 11 a.m., where they will discuss the cyberwarfare threat to both industry and government, as well as strategies to consolidate the wider cybersecurity mission. Read more

Federal Computer Week eNewsletters

  • Subscribe to Newsletters Subscribe

    Federal Computer Week's eNewsletters deliver the latest policy and management news to your inbox.

Highlights from the current issue