Restricting private information on non-court documents
Posted by Judy Meadows on January 30, 2008
Street addresses, email addresses, cell phone numbers and the like are not protected categories of information by Section 4.50 (c) of the Access Rules. Absent a state or federal statute separately forbidding publication of these items of personal information — the Access Rules create an electronic framework requiring their publication.
But even where state or federal law separately prohibits the publication of addresses and phone numbers of certain classes of individuals — how will the law enforcement officer issuing the ticket, the Judge adjudicating the ticket or the Full Court software program determine that?
We can agree that rape victims, victims of domestic abuse and other crime victims will not want their addresses and phone numbers published on the internet. But if they receive a speeding ticket, unless they are well acquainted with the law and immediately file a motion to keep that information off the internet — it’s published. The harm is done.
