Maryland Grapples with Open Court Records
Public access to court records isn’t something that exists uniformly across the United States. Many states offer large sets of documents to anyone with internet access while others still require the public to physically appear in an office to view files. In Maryland, both open records advocates and court officials are stating their cases regarding how records access should be handled.
Maryland is a state that does offer some electronic access to court records. Parties to a case and attorneys have had full online access through Maryland Electric Court (MDEC) since May and the public is able to search for basic information related to a case, but not actual documentation. This means that the general public needs to show up in person to see any details. A representative from the Brechner Freedom of Information Project posited that the courts do this to create a barrier to entry for the more mundane practices of snooping on your neighbors or coworkers.
The Maryland Courts and State Attorney offices that have been hesitant to implement remote access do have more important concerns than snooping and they all come down to redaction. Court documents often contain personally identifiable information like bank account or social security numbers. They also contain sensitive information like victim names which present a safety concern if available publicly.
Generally, this is where a company like Extract® Systems would get involved. We offer software and services that automate the redaction process, searching the entirety of your documents not just for the sensitive data you want to redact, but clues and indicators in the file that could reveal other sensitive data.
It seems that the redaction tools currently in place for public court records are doing a good job as well. A Federal Justice Center study found social security numbers in 0.1% of documents out of a random 4.7 million document sample. Proponents of open records argue that filers will do a better job of redaction when they know that a document will be public.
As is though, Maryland is allegedly violating the Constitution by not providing full access to records according to a lawsuit filed by Courthouse New Service. This organization and the Maryland court administration said last month that they’ve resolved the matter and come to an agreement, but it’s not clear what that means, and how long any change will take to implement. Regardless, it will be important to ensure the privacy and safety of citizens while satisfying any Constitutional requirements.
