As an Australian who now lives in Atlanta, this story attracted my attention. This evening on the local news, it was announced that Cobb County (in Atlanta) had been publishing court documents on the internet for anyone to read. In the past people had to go to the court house in person to read these documents. People may have to go back to the old ways again if a magistrate here has his way. It was decided that internet access to court documents was too dangerous, since it was too easy to search for specific information on people or cases. Whilst the Atlanta website isn't exactly along the same lines as Australia's CrimeNet, it does provide similar information. Combined with information gathered from the PeopleSearch website, jurors in Atlanta could be just as biased as jurors in Australia if they want. Perhaps the same sort of thing will happen in Atlanta before long. Food for thought.
Slashdot Mirror
As an Australian who now lives in Atlanta, this story attracted my attention. This evening on the local news, it was announced that Cobb County (in Atlanta) had been publishing court documents on the internet for anyone to read. In the past people had to go to the court house in person to read these documents. People may have to go back to the old ways again if a magistrate here has his way. It was decided that internet access to court documents was too dangerous, since it was too easy to search for specific information on people or cases. Whilst the Atlanta website isn't exactly along the same lines as Australia's CrimeNet, it does provide similar information. Combined with information gathered from the PeopleSearch website, jurors in Atlanta could be just as biased as jurors in Australia if they want. Perhaps the same sort of thing will happen in Atlanta before long. Food for thought.