PACER Just Wants To Be Free - Should It Be?

pub_sp0907_PACER.pdf (application/pdf Object). This is a great article by Susan Lyons, documents/reference librarian at Rutgers University Law School Library. If you want to know what all the fuss is about, in the contest between free and open access advocates of Federal Court Dockets and pleadings, and the Federal Court System, which made PACER a pay as you go system, this is the first thing you should read. While all of us think that public information should be free, there is a distinction, as Ms. Lyons points out, between run of the mill public information, and the kind of things found in litigation dockets. Personal information that should remain private has to be redacted. Allegations made in pleadings are often never proven. As a general rule, statements made in litigation are exempt from defamation laws; what happens when they are made public on the Internet? Ms. Lyons suggests that a balance must be struck between public access and restrictions to prevent abuse. Before you join the debate, read this article and understand the parameters of the dispute.

Comments

[Chuck Newton]

FREE PACER!

FREE PACER!

FREE PACER!

You know this is different from the ECF section in which lawyers file paperwork or receive notifications of what is filed via email, or creditors receiving notice electronically. Strangely enough, this portion is FREE.

[Sean Doherty]

Thank you for the link. I echoed it on Law.com at http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/in_house_tech/index.jsp.