Peter Guffin Provides Written Testimony to Maine Legislature on Bill Concerning Electronic Data and Court Records

Peter J. Guffin, partner and chair of Pierce Atwood’s Privacy & Data Security Practice Group, is urging Maine’s Judiciary Committee to issue a report recommending not to pass LD 1759, “An Act Regarding the Electronic Data and Court Records Filed in the Electronic Case Management System of the Supreme Judicial Court.”

Peter maintains that,

“First, the bill oversteps the Legislature's power and authority under the Maine Constitution. Second, the bill not only intrudes on the Supreme Judicial Court's exclusive authority to exercise judicial power, it also impinges on the Court's ability to interpret the expansive concepts of privacy and transparency in the context of digital court records access over time and to carry out its core function of making judgments among competing interests and values. Third, the bill lacks important measures to protect the privacy rights of Maine citizens, measures which do fall within the prerogative of the Legislature.”

Please click here to read all of Peter’s written testimony on LD 1759.

Peter Guffin is chair of Pierce Atwood’s Privacy & Data Security Practice Group, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of Maine School of Law, and co-director of the school’s Privacy Law Program. Peter is a frequent speaker and author on issues of privacy and cybersecurity.