RECAP the law

I'm proud to announce the launch of a new project that I've been working on with my colleagues at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy.

RECAP is an extension to the popular Firefox web browser that gives PACER users a hassle-free way to contribute to a free, open repository of federal court records. When a RECAP user purchases a document from PACER, the RECAP extension helps her automatically send a copy of that document to the RECAP archive. And RECAP saves its users money by notifying them when documents they’re searching for are already available for free from the public archive.

Check it out at http://www.recapthelaw.org

Can Parties Sue Counsel for Wrongful Publication of Personal Information?

Spam Notes has a good summary of a recent decision on the matter.

The Killians filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and Green Tree (on its own, not through a lawyer) filed a proof of claim which attached a document containing the Killians' "social security numbers, full account number, and legal names." In 2008, Green Tree (this time, through its lawyer) filed a Motion for Relief from Stay, and attached Green Tree's original filing, which contained the Killians' social security numbers and account numbers. The Killians brought an adversary proceeding asserting claims under state law, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and other statutes.

Read the rest of the analysis here.

I've uploaded the text of the opinion. There will be a hearing on October 15th to further address the matter.

Update: They settled. I guess we won't get to find out how the court would deal with this.