The judicial system debates whether traditionally public records can remain open with the advent of high-tech electronic databases.

Nearly everyone sees and understands the direct effect technology has on our lives. We know that computers allow us to process information faster, that the Internet allows us conduct research without going to the library and makes it easier for citizens to interact with government through Web sites and electronic databases.

What we often don?t realize is the way that technology can subtly effect long-held traditions and assumptions within our society. Not least of these are the conflict between access to public documents and our rights to privacy. The country?s court systems are learning that lesson as they enter the Internet age.

More courtrooms are making their documents and dockets public in an electronic way, allowing Internet access into the dusty vaults of the legal labyrinth. But only a handful of courts across the country have actually made document access digital thus far, and most of those offer relatively limited access to basic docket and calendar information.

Still, these first tentative electronic steps have already caused a wave of concern and debate to sweep through state and federal courts nationwide, raising complex questions about how we should manage access to public court documents in the information age. Judges, legal scholars and court administrators are grappling with how much information the public -- and that can include individuals, the press or even businesses -- has a right to. The practical difficulty of getting at court documents kept the question a non-issue until the Internet changed the world.

New Ballgame
?The law has always recognized that court documents were public, and theoretically they were, but the practical difficulty of reviewing those documents kept them effectively private,? said John Greacen, director of New Mexico?s courts. ?Technology now makes those documents ?in fact? public.?

?It changes everything,? agreed Ed Papps, senior court technology associate with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) based in Arlington, Va. ?When access is over the Internet and people can just get on there and browse through vast amounts of information, it becomes a whole different ballgame.?

So what is different about the rules in this new ballgame that brings the issue to the table? ?When you file for divorce, say, you have to disclose all sorts of personal financial and private, very private, information about yourself,? explained Thomas Henderson, executive director of the NCSC. ?Sometimes the pleadings might even include vicious accusations -- sometimes true, sometimes not true --including accusations of child abuse, which is sometimes referred to as the ?atom bomb? defense.

?When court records were kept as reams and reams of paper, in huge record books, and viewing them required a day trip to the courthouse, the information was only accessed in extreme cases. Now, though, what if it ticks off your neighbor when your dog pees on his lawn? He can hop on the Internet and dig up everything about you that is in those records -- accusations, sensitive financial data, the banks you use. You name it.?

About the only thing preventing this type of abuse is the limited automation level so far. While a lot of courts offer access to basic information like a case number and the names of the plaintiff and defendant, few if any have the details of pleadings, depositions or testimony digitized. Access to those requires an old-fashioned trip downtown. But, in some legal areas, even basic information can create problems.

?I recently had a father of a young man call me. He was very upset that he had stumbled across his daughter?s juvenile court record while surfing the Internet,? said Greacen. ?I understand his concern -- she had paid for whatever