TIL that I'm cited in a lot of patents.
Entity recognition on this would be an extreme value add. Don't you think?
It's a difficult problem, but that would definitely be useful for sure.
Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
201–210 of 289 posts
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would be more of a problem with the legal system, not this search page.
That's not true. Court records used to be accessible in person only. You would have to be motivated to find anything. This puts everyone's past and often forgotten transgressions on display. This might look cool or even useful to some, but it's straight up immoral.
Court records, including traffic violations, have been accessible online in the jurisdiction where I live for nearly 25 years. They've been aggregated from that website by third-parties for most of that time, too (which I know because I've done contract sysadmin work for one of the courts for most of that 25 years).
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#203I recently had some criminal charges expunged, and I notice they show up here. Is there any way to request removal of court records which are no longer publicly available from the originating court?
Isn't there laws protecting people against this? Expunged record should not be visible, right?
If a record is made public, it's always part of the public record. If a case has been expunged, those results are removed though because it's the right thing to do.
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#204This is a pretty big violation of privacy, especially for people who's criminal records have been expunged. It could satisfy some people's curiosity or if they are a lawyer, they could save a few grand on PACER, but for everyone else this is a privacy disaster. I hope you take this down eventually.
Hard agree, it feels like an invasion of privacy in line with the cancerous people search/background search websites that make available everything from your home address and phone number to your pets name.
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#205[EDIT]
Sorry everyone and thanks everyone for the sentiments. I have been advised not to write anything public about this further.
This may be nothing and this will also pass. Unfortunately, I've to delete my comment here.
About: IBM seem to have stolen my idea and patented it. I have the full source code, and multiple proofs that I'm the owner.
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#206This 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?
I couldn't find my name. And i know it should be in here. So I'm not that worried yet...
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Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#207This seems pretty good at first glance but there's significant room for improvement. Since this is HN, allow me to nitpick... - "630M" is a big number, sure, but I don't have a sense for what % of total court cases it corresponds to. Is it closer to 10% or 90%? And either way, which ones are included vs. excluded? What was the criteria used? Accessibility, date, costs? - I get the artistic view behind the choice of t…
Whenever I see stuff from lawyers especially stuff with litigation, seems like the font size, typeface, and white space always punch me in the eye it's so gruesome.
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#208[EDIT] Sorry everyone and thanks everyone for the sentiments. I have been advised not to write anything public about this further. This may be nothing and this will also pass. Unfortunately, I've to delete my comment here. About: IBM seem to have stolen my idea and patented it. I have the full source code, and multiple proofs that I'm the owner.
That's pretty unbelievable, wow.
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#209yes more specialized search engines :D
Re: Show HN: Full text search on 630M US court cases
#210[EDIT] Sorry everyone and thanks everyone for the sentiments. I have been advised not to write anything public about this further. This may be nothing and this will also pass. Unfortunately, I've to delete my comment here. About: IBM seem to have stolen my idea and patented it. I have the full source code, and multiple proofs that I'm the owner.
Lesson learnt, if you have an idea, even most mundane, boring one; don't just go about writing it openly -- there are too many IBMs that will claim as their own.