Automated Index of US Judicial Corruption Proposed by Human Rights Alert (NGO)

June 25, 2010 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, June 24 – in paper [1] filed for peer review in high level international computer science conference, Joseph Zernik, PhD and Human Rights Alert (NGO) proposed that if public access was provided, as required by First Amendment rights, to judicial records, now concealed by the courts, it would be possible to construct an “automated Index of Judicial Corruption”.  The paper reviewed the US federal courts computers systems, PACER & CM/ECF, which were installed over the past decade through a large-scale project by the judiciary, with insufficient public oversight. The paper claimed that the systems were invalid, since they established new, unpublished court procedures, since they denied public access to judicial records, which were public records by law, and since they established invalid procedures for authentication of judicial records.  The paper concluded that the systems were key to enabling precipitous deterioration in integrity of the US courts over the past decade.  
The paper concluded:
The transition to digital administration entailed a sea change in procedures of the US courts. The transition took place over a relatively short time, and was independently executed by the US judiciary, with insufficient public and legal accountability. The transition resulted in precipitous deterioration in integrity of the courts, which undermined the safeguard of human rights and enforcement by regulatory agencies in the United States.  Conditions that were generated as result are unprecedented in democratic societies in the Modern era.  They are employed for deprivation of rights of the people, and to benefit those in government and large corporations.  The proposed solution should involve publicly accountable validation (certified, functional logic verification) of case management systems of the courts, system transparency, and ongoing data mining – a civic duty, and prerequisite for integrity of the courts in the digital era.  Although the current report documented conditions at the US courts, similar risks are faced by other nations as well. The international computing/informatics community should assume a leading role in protection of rights and the democratic nature of society in the digital era.

Contact:
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
jz12345@earthlink.net  

LINKS:
[1] 10-06-24 zernik paper2 data mining of online records of the networked us courts
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33520631/

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Human Rights Alert, a Los Angeles County, California, NGO, is committed to monitoring Human Rights violations by the US government, and reporting such violations, including, but not limited to the 2010 Universal Periodic Review of the US by the UN.