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Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

judyrecords.com

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Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

#61

Post by oh_sigh »

kyboren wrote: post #3

This is... not great. It's crucial that these records be open to public inspection. But instant full-text search of the entire dockets of 630M cases feels wrong, invasive, and dangerous to me. It's yet another instance of panopticon surveillance now being too cheap to meter. I think our society needs to come to grips with this new reality and figure out what to do about it. Or are we all just cool with this?

Sure, why not? It's not like anything embarrassing or things you want kept secret should be in court proceedings

https://www.judyrecords.com/record/vvfe9mivbec8c

Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

#62

Post by alangibson »

SkittyDog wrote: post #49
dgfitz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in California you only need to pass the bar to become a lawyer, no expensive degree required.

You're all missing the point... ANYbody with a Lexis Nexus subscription, or a Bloomberg terminal, or one of those background check sites, already has this exact capability. It's not new. You dont need to be a lawyer to access any of it... I think the other poster simply meant that lawyers generally have Lexis subscriptions, already. Also, the various court databases this site is searching are ALREADY online and publi…

> This is just providing a free, unified interface with a fast search index.

Yes, and that is a phase change difference. It's not a trivial enhancement.

Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

#63

Post by rmbyrro »

alangibson wrote: post #30
rmbyrro wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the only missing piece for fulltext harassment is a "Google alert" for particular keywords. Put the names you wanna track and receive a delightful alert in your inbox with rocks to throw over other people's roof. EDIT: the tech is great, but I think there should be a record of who is accessing the data, for what purpose, terms for how it can be used in a civil way, and means to go after misuse.

How is harassment as a service not a thing yet? You get a "Google alert" for your target. The service presents you with several buttons: 1. Send an AI written email 2. Post a link to the new info on their Facebook page 3. Tweet an image macro with the incriminating text embedded @ them

It is a thing, but making it so easy to find and access court documents mentioning someone's name will add to the pile of rocks malevolent people can throw at anyone.

Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

#66

Post by ghaff »

SkittyDog wrote: post #49
dgfitz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in California you only need to pass the bar to become a lawyer, no expensive degree required.

You're all missing the point... ANYbody with a Lexis Nexus subscription, or a Bloomberg terminal, or one of those background check sites, already has this exact capability. It's not new. You dont need to be a lawyer to access any of it... I think the other poster simply meant that lawyers generally have Lexis subscriptions, already. Also, the various court databases this site is searching are ALREADY online and publi…

At some level I get the angst about typing someone's name, especially if it's fairly unusual, and getting back a whole lot of information about, in this case, mostly legal-related stuff and in others past addresses, things they've written etc. for free. (And, if you know something about them you can probably sift the returns somewhat effectively.) You may be able to find out a lot about your date, your neighbor, etc.

On the other hand, outside of casually checking out someone, the reality is that this has long been available for anyone want to spend a very few bucks to do so.

Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases

#70

Post by EvanAnderson »

wolverine876 wrote: post #25
EvanAnderson wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerful corporate and government actors have massive surveillance and data warehousing capabilities that aren't going away. At the very least, putting those powers into the hands of the public helps to level the playing field. Society will have to change to accommodate the digital panopticon. I don't see the digital panopticon going away, though.

> putting those powers into the hands of the public helps to level the playing field Agreed, but ... > Powerful corporate and government actors have massive surveillance and data warehousing capabilities that aren't going away. To nitpick: They aren't going away as long as we spread that message. It's not easy, but we can make them go away. People do accomplish things and change the world - just compare today's world…

> To nitpick: They aren't going away as long as we spread that message. ... Defeatism is trendy, and who benefits?

It's not defeatism-- it's just being realistic. I don't believe there's any useful method to make government actors comply with the law. I have an, admittedly US perspective, but evidence the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, the NSA and the subsequent Church committee hearings, and Snowden's disclosures as examples. The power afforded by mass surveillance and data warehousing is too attractive not to be abused.

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