(Host) The Vermont House has approved legislation that prohibits the formal posting of Vermont court records on the Internet.
For the past few sessions, the Legislature has passed temporary bans of the practice – this bill puts a permanent prohibition in place.
Moretown Representative Maxine Grad is the vice chairwoman of the House Judiciary committee.
She noted that members of the public currently have access to these records if they visit a courthouse, but she thinks forcing the Judiciary to put records on line is a mistake:
(Grad) "It balances the public’s right to public information, accuracy of that information as well as one’s privacy rights…the committee is very concerned about the accuracy of court records we heard testimony that they are not accurate and also that the court is at this time not able to remove identifying information such as social security numbers and that was very concerning to committee members."
(Host) Grad told her colleagues that the bill also allows members of the public to access information that’s currently being compiled at the Vermont Crime Information Center – she says previously this information was available only to employers and private investigators:
(Grad) "The committee was persuaded that this information should be open to the public because currently it is quote unquote "out there" and it is out there by data mining corporations that actually go the courthouses and then put this information on line and sell it for a fee."
(Host) The bill is similar to a bill that passed the Senate several months ago.