Fearing identity theft, the court is curbing data on court filings.

New rules by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that limit the use of personal information in court filings is a shocking blow to open government, an official said.

The rules go against the basic tenets of the state's open-records tradition, said Joey Senat, past president of FOI Oklahoma.

"They are taking information that has traditionally been included in court records and decided unilaterally that the public should no longer have access to this information," Senat said. "With these rules, the (state's highest) court is encouraging redaction."

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday placed limits on the amount of personal information to be included in court filings in district court. The rationale involved the court's growing concern over identity theft among the general public.

The court adopted new rules that limit the full use of Social Security numbers, home addresses, birth dates, medical records, financial standing and other personal information filed in paper documents in district courts.

Rules dealing with removing information from paper documents are effective June 10.

The new rules also immediately prohibit the posting of court pleadings and similar filings on the Internet. Court dockets will remain online.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma County Court Clerk Patricia Presley said the new rules go too far and could cause more problems than they solve.

"Similar to the opinion of the justices who disagreed with the new rules as currently written, I believe the new rules have significant problems," Presley wrote in a statement. "In fact, I think it is fair to say the rule creates more problems than it addresses for prosecutors, judges, court clerks, lawyers, title clerks, law enforcement, journalists and citizens."

Three of the justices for the Oklahoma Supreme Court dissented in part or fully dissented on the new rules. Additionally, a committee member who helped the Supreme Court develop the new rules expressed surprise at their reach and new level of redaction.

Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith said the rules go further than she imagined.

"I have no qualms with Internet restrictions, but on the paper filings, it is much more than I expected coming from the court," Smith said. "I think it goes a long way for the best interest of the public, and for that, I think the decision was right."

Smith said she served on a committee made up of court clerks who met in 2006 and 2007 to discuss court filings and their content among other issues.

The committee was called together by the Oklahoma Supreme Court staff, she said.

When the committee began its work, Smith said a significant number of the members believed in keeping the records more open to the public, but they changed their minds after reading information on identity theft and other scenarios about court records.

"Some said if the record was public, it should be full-blown on the Internet," Smith said. "But we read a lot and learned a lot, and I formed my opinion that it should not be accessible on the Internet."

Smith could not recall a case of identity theft related to a court filing, but the potential is too great to take the risk, she said.

"The thing that changed my mind was seeing a document that contained a child's name, date of birth and Social Security number," she said. "If someone stole the child's identity, how long would it take to be known?

"They wouldn't know for years, and by then there could be great financial damage or unimaginable complications for the person," Smith said.

Most of the new rules on redaction are mandatory. However, in some cases, the rules would be overridden if a state statute requires that unredacted personal information be included in a court filing.

Omer Gillham 581-8301
omer.gillham@tulsaworld.com