A commentary by Sanford F. Young begins:
Most courts of law have finally entered the computer age. Until recently, every case produced a mountain of papers that were eventually physically archived deep in the subterranean bowels of a courthouse. Now many courts require lawsuits to be filed online, where court papers are archived on publicly accessible websites. It’s all very convenient, but the convenience comes with a downside: Sensitive personal information and documents—including medical, psychiatric and financial records—are forever accessible to anyone with access to the internet.
Read more at WSJ.
As I’ve reported at other times on DataBreaches.net, in some cases, hospitals and medical collections provide protected health information to courts, when they should not be providing it. In a few cases, enforcement action has been taken by HHS, but Young’s point is accurate: as someone who is a frequent user of court records and public records, there’s way too much available. In a few cases, I have even reached out to the law firms involved to alert them so they can address the situation, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten even a single acknowledgement.
h/t/, Joe Cadillic