Greg Beato on Tearing Down the Paywall and Liberating Electronic Court Records

Public Access to Court Electronic Records, a.k.a. PACER, is an Internet-based service that allows attorneys, litigants, and other interested parties to access docket sheets, judicial opinions, and other documents related to federal cases. In his column from our June issue, Greg Beato notes that while PACER was a revolutionary step forward upon its release in 1988, today it seems as archaic as a barrister's wig. Court records are now expensive and inaccessible, Beato writes. It's time for information liberation.