Imperial A Hilton San Francisco and Towers Ballroom Level
Joint Program of Sections on Civil Rights, Creditors' and Debtors' Rights and Federal Courts Thomas A. Eaton, University of Georgia, and Chair, Section on Civil Rights Karen Gross, New York Law School, and Chair and Program Chair, Section on Creditors' and Debtors' Rights James E. Pfander, University of Illinois, and Chair, Section on Federal Courts
Electronic Filing and Privacy: Issues, Problems, Solutions
Moderator:
Karen Gross, New York Law School
Speakers:
Robert Deyling, Attorney-Advisor, Article III Judges Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Washington, D.C. [View Program Material] Joseph A. Guzinski, Acting General Counsel and Assistant Director, Executive Office for United States Trustees, Washington, D.C. Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director, American Civil Liberties Union, New York, New York
Increasingly, documents in federal litigation, including bankruptcy, are being electronically filed, and a wide range of entities can now access these court files through the Internet. This program will begin by looking at the status of electronic filing in the federal court system (including where systems are installed and when systems will become operative nationwide). Then, the program will explore the growing number of privacy issues that surround the electronic filing of documents in the federal court system. There is obviously a tension between the need for public access to documents to, among other things, promote transparency, and the need for preserving personal privacy, including sensitive information that is protected under other legal regimes. Bankruptcy is paradigmatic since debtors file a plethora of information upon seeking relief. The panelists, with expertise in the federal courts, the bankruptcy system and privacy issues, will explore the following questions: Should all electronic case information be available to everyone at no cost or should access to limited (to parties in interest)? On what basis, if any are some documents entitled to greater privacy protection than others and hence should not be generally available on the Internet? Who has the burden of moving for added protection, if anyone? What existing legal doctrines govern the "publicness" of court filed documents? Can court databases be downloaded and the data aggregated so trends in litigation or information about litigants can be compiled for the nation or select regions? Can/should researchers have access to the data without any cleansing of it? Should case files remain on line in perpetuity? The panelists will also consider solutions to these complex questions, including a discussion of alternative approaches to open access to electronically filed federal cases. There will also be a discussion of the new Department of Justice/Department of Treasury/OMB study of electronic filing, privacy and bankruptcy.