Re:Keeping “Free Law” Free
by crankylinuxuser on Thursday January 25, 2018 @11:26AM
(#16231983)
Do note, with PACER, making a search counts as a page. So does clicking on the second page of results - another page. So does clicking the print button. Another page.
”In 2008, computers at the Library for the U.S. Courts of the Seventh Circuit in Chicago provided free access to PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), which normally cost eight cents per page. Swartz loaded a script onto a library computer, which automatically downloaded PACER records every three seconds and uploaded them to a cloud server. Over a couple of weeks, he downloaded about 20% of the PACER database. [Aaron] Swartz provided the PACER documents to Public.Resource.Org. The FBI's investigation of this incident eventually ended without charges. Swartz continued to promote free public access to PACER documents by working with RECAP and PlainSite.”