Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Put court records online, groups say
Associated Press
Published March 2, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Representatives of court clerks, the news media and businesses that use court files on Wednesday argued against proposals to limit Internet access to those records.
A committee appointed by the Florida Supreme Court had submitted 21 recommendations for use of the files. The public meeting, the first of several, comes two years after Justice Harry Lee Anstead, then chief justice, ordered a moratorium on the electronic availability of many records.
Manatee Circuit Court Clerk R.B. Shore told the justices there are ways to allow electronic access and still protect privacy.
Much of the discussion focused on a recommendation that would require clerks to review all court files to remove anything the Legislature has exempted from nonjudicial public records.
That would be impractical because there are more than 1,000 statutory exemptions, and courthouse files across Florida hold more than 10-billion pages of records, said Kenneth Kent of the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers.
He pointed out that a party to a case can ask a judge to seal records that might violate privacy rights. Many sensitive court records, including those dealing with juvenile and family matters, also are confidential under existing laws and court rules.
[Last modified March 2, 2006, 01:32:18]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
