Pssst! Wanna dig up some dirt?Court records too open to suit some people

At least two sets of people -- newspaper editors and opposition researchers -- are upset by suggestions that Internet access to Wisconsin court records might be reduced or restricted.

The announcement by the state Supreme Court that it would reconvene an oversight committee to review the web site, commonly known as CCAP - Consolidated Court Automation Programs.

The site contains information from courts across Wisconsin about a wide range of legal cases. Get a speeding ticket in Waupaca County, as I did in 1996? It's in the data base. Have a lawsuit filed against you (again, as i did when working for the City of Milwaukee.)? It's in there, too. So is the fact that I filed a will in 1974 with the Dane County register of deeds.

The system isn't perfect, of course, and information is not always up to the minute, which can cause problems.

But the system is widely used. It gets between 2 million and 3 million "hits" every day. Who uses it? In his Journal Sentinel article, Lawrence Sussman says:

The site can be used by employers checking on prospective employees, parents curious about their daughter's boyfriend, or folks just checking on their neighbors.

Since April 1999, anyone with a computer has had easy access to these public court records. Just how far back the records go varies by county; in some cases, court records that are more than three decades old can be found online.

The data base, of course, is also an easy way to look for negative information about someone -- a political opponent, a romantic rival, or whoever.

When the story broke about the Door County woman who sent used hypodermic needles to John Gard (via the gov's office), Jessica McBride Bucher, looking for something to descredit her, went to the site and posted an item on her blog declaring that the woman had an "open criminal case." She had been charged with writing a bad check, but the case was closed the same day McBride/Bucher posted the item. She never reported the dismissal; I did.

State Rep. Marlin Schneider (D-Wis. Rapids) is on the 20-member committee that will review access to the site, and Schneider wants to limit it. Sussman's story:

Schneider said he has received a letter from a person who was charged with molesting his children during a divorce action.

A judge threw out the charge, "but that information is still in the record," Schneider said. "Whether it is true or not, these things have an impact on people's lives. And many people don't take the time to read the whole record. . . . "The problem," Schneider said, "is the misuse of this data either intentionally or unintentionally by people who may have an ax to grind or who just may want to gossip."

CCAP shows that Schneider had a $65,000 judgment against him as the result of an auto accident, the JS reported, as though that explains Schneider's opposition. In fairness, it should be pointed out that Schneider, for years, has been the champion in the legislature for people's right to privacy and has argued for keeping personal information private in other instances.

Schneider fears misuse and abuse of the information, and favors restricting access to court officials and law enforcement. "It also would be OK for the legitimate press to use this, but what is the legitimate press is too hard to define," he said.

The odds that anything will change are very slim. The issue has provoked the predictable outpouring of editorials from newspapers defending the public's right to access this information. And the public does have that right. Everything on the site is public record; what CCAP does is make it accessible in seconds, instead of requiring a citizen to drive to 72 county courthouses to search the files.

Want to see how it works? Look yourself -- or your neighbor, or your boyfriend, or your political opponent -- here.