Sealed Records Exposed In Major Court Gaffe

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/sealed-federal-court-records-exposed-216309


Sealed Records Exposed In Major Court Gaffe
Federal prosecutors scramble to cloak details of ongoing probes
April 22, 2011

In a shocking failure to protect sensitive details about dozens of ongoing 
criminal investigations, federal officials somehow allowed confidential 
information about sealed cases to be publicly accessible via the court 
system.s online lookup service, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Over the past nine months, details of 40 separate sealed court 
applications filed by federal prosecutors in Alabama were uploaded to 
PACER, the web-based records system that counts nearly one million users, 
including defense lawyers, prosecutors, journalists, researchers, private 
investigators, and government officials.

The court applications, made by ten separate prosecutors, included 
requests to install hidden surveillance cameras, examine Facebook records, 
obtain credit information on certain individuals, procure telephone 
records, and attach devices on phone lines that would allow agents to 
track incoming and outgoing calls. Remarkably, the U.S. District Court 
records--which covered filings as recent as April 11--included specific 
names, addresses, and phone numbers that should never have appeared on 
PACER.

[..]
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