Tech Notes – April, 2017

CourtHack 2017 Champions

News about CourtHack 2017, a podcast on law enforcement body-worn cameras and the courts, and more from Alabama on court records policy.

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CourtHack 2017

The brightest legal minds, technologists, and entrepreneurs are gathering for NCSC’s CourtHack 2.0, a 30-hour hackathon to benefit the administration of justice, in North Brunswick, N.J.  Expert mentors, including judges, administrators, and CIOs from across the country, lent their expertise to help ensure participants build useful, relevant projects.

The eventual winner that were chosen by the judge’s panel was “The Tiger Team” from Princeton University with their “Fines and Fees App” that connects users to possibly receive lower fines and work out payment plans.

We will have more on this event soon.

Body Worn Cameras and the Courts Podcast

The NCSC Podcast, CourtTalk has a new episode about the increasing use by law enforcement of body-worn cameras and the potential benefits and challenges for courts.

Check it out at: http://connected.ncsc.org/courttalk/archives/episode-6

Alabama Forms Task Force to Review Court website privacy

In reaction to the identity theft problem that we noted earlier, the Alabama Courts are forming a task force to address the issues.

An Associated Press story posted on April 27, 2017 wrote:

"Alabama is forming a task force and taking other actions to address concerns about private information about victims and others at a state website for court records, court officials said this week. 

The steps are being taken after a review of Alacourt.com by The Associated Press found names, home addresses, telephone numbers and other information about rape victims and children who have been molested… 

"The Alabama court system is very concerned with private identifying information being made available for public view," Nathan Wilson, legal director of Alabama's Administrative Office of Courts, said in a statement."

Further…

"State officials say they're also adding a notice to the website, warning lawyers and others who upload documents to remove sensitive information before they go on public view."