Secrecy rules on records go 'too far,' some say
State secrecy rules on records go 'too far,' some say
By John Greiner
Comments 
6
Published: March 13, 2008
State Supreme Court rules to restrict public access to court records online go too far and create more problems than they address, Oklahoma County Court Clerk Patricia Presley said Wednesday.
NewsOK Related Articles
Online access could return
In issuing the rules, which are effective June 10, the court said it was an effort to balance privacy rights and public access to court documents. Court dockets will still be available online, for example, but pleadings won't, according to the ruling.
The ruling also would prohibit somebody who files a court document — such as an attorney — from including some personal information such as birth dates, Social Security numbers and home addresses. Taxpayer identification numbers, names of minors and financial account numbers also will be excluded.
Eventually, these rules might be loosened to allow pleadings to be on the Internet again, but not personal identifiers, Chief Justice James Winchester said Wednesday.
Winchester couldn't say when some additional information would be available online again. He said it will be after the court hires a director for its computer network and gets software that can automatically omit any personal identifiers that weren't previously omitted by attorneys when they filed cases.
Presley said she will be approaching the Supreme Court with her concerns about the rules. She thinks there are many less restrictive steps that could be taken.
She's never put victim's information, traffic offenses or jurors' information on the Internet, Presley said.
"I think the biggest concern I have is the number of people who have come to depend on having those documents on the Internet and which allowed them to view court records from their offices,” Presley said.
She said the court clerk's office will have more foot traffic under these rules and may have to get more employees to handle the requests for records.
Privacy concerns cited
Winchester said a legislator whose name he didn't remember expressed concerns about personal information published on the Internet after receiving a complaint from a constituent.
Presley said she's not heard of any problems in Oklahoma County.
But Sally Howe Smith, court clerk in Tulsa County, said she knows of a problem that occurred a few years ago in Tulsa because of personal information on the Internet.
It involved a divorce and custody battle, she said.
The mother in the case had a misdemeanor offense, but it was erroneously recorded as a felony on online court records, explained the court clerk.
The husband saw that information and used it in court against his wife before the information could be corrected, Smith said.
Smith has no issues with the proposed rules.
"I am comfortable with them. I was not comfortable with the records being on the Internet,” she said.
Oklahoma and Tulsa counties' district attorneys said they had not read the rules but agree with keeping personal information off the Internet.
"People can find where police officers live,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said.
Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris said he agrees with Prater, adding that having that information in filings online can put families and witnesses at risk.
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
The on-line records need to go. When they first put these records on line one could read a newspaper article about an alleged rape and obtain the name of the alleged perpetrator. Then one could get on the OSCN, type in the alleged perpetrators name and open up his arrest affidavit and read where the alleged victim lives, what her name is, and all the grissly details. However, such is not that case anymore as those types of cases no longer allow internet access. Nonetheless, this is not the case for civil actions ranging anywhere from divorces which have the decree posted on line with SSN and birthdates, VIN #'s, credit card numbers... I also discovered that HIPPA doesn't apply to the courts so if any medical information is used in a civil suit then anybody with internet access can now read your personal medical information. I could go on and on but the Supreme Court did the right thing here.