Eight years into the development of data protection rules for Florida's court documents, few decisions have been made about how best to secure personal information as courts move to electronic files, reports The Miami Herald. The Committee on Privacy and Court Documents has proposed that personal information be excluded when it is not necessary to the case, but that proposal exempts criminal and traffic cases. One Florida Supreme Court Justice says it "shouldn't be that complicated. Let them get on the stick and get the rest done." But a Tampa lawyer argues that personal information is needed to verify defendants' identities when they get to court and points out that the volume of criminal and traffic filings makes stripping them of personal information impractical.
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