Peter J. Guffin Appointed to Task Force on Transparency and Privacy in Court Records

Peter J. Guffin, Chair of Pierce Atwood’s Privacy & Data Security Practice Group, has been appointed to a newly-formed Task Force, reporting to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, to help the Judicial Branch with its transition from paper to digital files.

As stated in the Task Force Charter:

With the advent of emerging technologies, the Judicial Branch is challenged to address the increasingly complex questions related to public access to court records. The easier, remote accessibility that will accompany the replacement of paper court files with digital court records, as well as the relatively recent practices of the digital sharing or sale of private information or illegal images require a thoughtful and clear system of access rules.

As the Judicial Branch prepares to transition from paper to digital files, it would benefit the public, the litigants, and individuals with unique issues of privacy to establish clear guidelines and rules related to the access to the wide variety of court records.

Peter will join members of the Judicial Branch, advocates in the field of domestic and sexual violence, practitioners in family, criminal and civil cases, and others who bring a specific perspective to the work of the Task Force to “make recommendations to the Supreme Judicial Court for a comprehensive approach to accessibility of court records . . . [and] recommend specific changes in statutes, rules and Administrative Orders.”

Peter is a frequent speaker on topics of privacy and cybersecurity, a Visiting Professor of Practice at University of Maine School of Law where he teaches information privacy law and cybersecurity, and is author of the blog Privacy Law Perspectives.