In the days of AOC Watcher, many questioned the need to have a statewide case management system to manage cases in the local courts. For quite awhile, I too questioned the need for a complete set of centralized records that might span every allegation made against any individual of a civil or criminal nature and all court actions and papers that spans a persons life history and the currently stated goals of permitting courts to sell some, if not all of those records.
Other incidental information came to light, such as a trip the chief and Calabro took to Washington D.C. to sell DHS their CCMS wares and seek federal funding for. When I heard this, I began to ask myself what did they have to sell?
What they have to sell is your legal life history all bundled up in one little package under the auspices of “Case Management”. Why privacy wonks are not all over this for permitting the state to even build a centralized intelligence gathering network of computers is beyond my comprehension but it should be of grave concern to every citizen that the thought of anything but a conviction or a judgement being centrally collected and available for sale, such as every allegation ever made, documents, reports and other files being centrally collected and disseminated is in fact, collecting and disseminating intelligence on private citizens on a centrally located network.
So what safeguards go with this intelligence gathering network?
NONE!
Remember, this is the no oversight judicial branch who can do with that information anything they deem useful. Respectfully submitted: CCMS’s capabilities represent the ultimate in intelligence gathering and dissemination tools on private citizens.
You want a good reason to kill CCMS? Consider its capabilities. Then sue the AOC in federal court over privacy concerns.
JusticeCalifornia
January 27, 2011
JCW, you said: “the currently stated goals of permitting courts to sell some, if not all of those records.”
Where can we find info re those currently stated goals?
judicialcouncilwatcher
January 27, 2011
Selling court records and access to court records is a money maker in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and is being utilized as a money making carrot to other courts to encourage them to go with the system. ie; Selling information. There is a little more on this at the bottom most paragraphs of the story by Maria Dizneo. http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/01/26/33651.htm While some may argue that a limited subset may be visible or available to only some parties, administrative errors in some of these systems have already exposed the personal identification of law enforcement officers resulting in subsequent identity theft. The thing about a centralized system is that while you may only be entitled to a subset of information, someone at the AOC will manage all of that information and has immeasurable access to it. That doesn’t set well with me nor does sharing that information with other agencies under the auspices of “justice partners” which can be anything from a private business, to law enforcement, to political lobbyists who wish to ensure support for the judicial branch’s goals through mis-use of such a centralized system.
SF Whistle
January 27, 2011
Here’s a link to the cheerleading side of the topic—
http://citp.princeton.edu/events/lectures/stephen-schultze-and-shubham-mukherjee/?/
judicialcouncilwatcher
January 29, 2011
My take on the cheerleading was that the federal judicial branch was using access to court records to pay for unrelated technology projects and that it should be cheaper….
judicialcouncilwatcher
January 29, 2011
Here is some interesting commentary comparing the Judicial Council and AOC to a “Drunken Sailor” http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/01/27/33697.htm
All points well made-
Wendy Darling
January 29, 2011
So, what do you do with a drunken sailor?
You put him in the brig, court martial him, and dishonorably discharge him with all due speed.
And if the drunken sailor happens to be the captain of the ship, you remove him from command and take over the helm, before he wrecks the ship and brings harm to all on board.
Note to the State legislature – are you listening?