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Vol. 39, Number 6 — June 2007
Pilot Project Will Post Digital Audio Recordings Online
Continuing its efforts to enhance the transparency of courtroom proceedings,
the federal Judiciary is about to launch a pilot project to make digital audio
recordings publicly available online.
Five pilot project participants—three bankruptcy courts and two district
courts—will integrate their recording and Case Management/ Electronic Case
Files (CM/ECF) systems to make audio files available later this summer on the
Internet, the same way written files have long been available.
“We’r
e just
Pilot Project Courts
treatin
g the
U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
audio
file as
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
we
would
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine
a
writte
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama
n
file,”
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
said
U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge J. Rich Leonard in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
“We think providing access to an audio file will prove to be enormously
helpful.”
His court and a CM/ECF team within the Administrative Office (AO) are
developing the necessary software, and will share it with the bankruptcy courts
in the Northern District of Alabama and the District of Maine, and with the
district courts for the District of Nebraska and the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
The lead programming work was done by Leonard’s court for the audio
system, VoiceIQ, being used in three of the five pilot courts. The other audio
system being used is FTR-Gold. The interface software for it will be developed
by both court and AO staff, with AO staff taking the lead for district court
development and Leonard’s court taking the lead for bankruptcy court
development.
“We’ve been in touch with the four other courts, and will continue with e-mail
exchanges and face-to-face meetings in the coming weeks,” Leonard said.
The five courts will make audio file access available through the Public Access
to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. More than 600,000 subscribers
already use PACER to access docket and case information from federal
appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. (Learn more about PACER at
www.pacer.uscourts.gov.)
Digital audio recording has been one of three authorized methods of making an
official record of court proceedings since 1999, when the Judicial Conference
voted to make it an alternative to court reporters and analog recording.
But the Conference’s action initially carried the condition that no additional
funds over the cost of a court’s analog system be spent for digital audio
systems. That limitation was lifted in 2005, and the pilot project won
Conference approval last March.
Today, digital audio recording is used in most bankruptcy courts and at least
one third of the 94 district courts (where magistrate judges account for most of
the usage). In those courts, computer disks of hearings have been available for
the authorized fee of $26 but prospective purchasers have had to make a trip to
the clerk of court’s office.
During the six-to-12-month pilot project, Internet access to the same content
will cost 16 cents—eight cents for accessing the docket sheet and another eight
cents for selecting the audio file.
“It’s going to be a PDF document that’s considered a single page,” Leonard
explained. “The Administrative Office’s Electronic Public Access Program
Office will determine during the pilot project what the appropriate fee should
be if such access becomes permanent. The impact on band-width, costs of the
required technology, and other factors will be part of that determination.”
The EPA program’s mission is to facilitate and improve electronic public
access to court information at a reasonable cost, in accordance with
congressional and judicial policies, security requirements and user demands.
“This pilot project is a logical step,” said Mary Stickney, the EPA Program
Office chief.
It was Leonard, previously a district court clerk and a magistrate judge, who
first proposed the pilot project. “He has a keen interest in all aspects of the
EPA Program, and his knowledge of history, technology, and policy is
unsurpassed in the Judiciary,” Stickney said. “His leadership has been
instrumental in shaping the discussion and resulting policy on electronic public
access and privacy issues.”
Judges in the five pilot courts will determine which of the hearings they
preside over should have a recording posted on PACER for possible
downloading. Those seeking to access audio files will find a specially designed
icon—an audio speaker—to designate the digital audio recordings.
“We anticipate that these files will be popular, particularly with members of
the news media,” Stickney said.
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