Most people have no idea how to hack a website in order to locate confidential information such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and birth dates. But when it comes to court websites, in many cases you don’t need to be a geek or a hacker to access this information; you simply need to log in and download whatever documents you want, or pay a generally nominal fee and download records from numerous types of cases containing this sensitive data. As a result, anyone can access courts filings, which may contain confidential information. Although some Pennsylvania courts have limited the records available to civil cases, others provide online access to family matters and more.

This state of affairs has led the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to develop a proposed public access policy specifying which court records will be available electronically, which will only be available at the courthouse, and which will not be made public. The goal of the policy is to assure parties that personal and confidential information is not available to those who are not authorized to have it. In short, instead of including these types of information and documents in their filings, litigants will be required to use a “confidential information form” or “confidential document form,” or to redact sensitive personal information from the documents. The onus will be upon the filer, and not the particular court, to ensure that all filings comply with the policy.

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