Fed Judge Tanner's Porn Downloading curtailed

[Subcommander Bob]

http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000075599sep20.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation%2Dmanual

WASHINGTON -- Judges and their staffs may not
                      download sexually explicit material, music or
videos on
                      their office computers, under a policy announced
                      Wednesday by the rule-making body of the U.S.
court
                      system.

                      The new policy "will help ensure that
taxpayer-provided
                      resources are devoted to" official business, not
personal
                      use, said U.S. District Judge Edward Nelson of
                      Birmingham, Ala. Judges are not "above the law"
and do
                      not have a right to use their computers for
entirely
                      personal uses, he added.

                      The new policy governs the 30,000 employees of the

                      federal court system. It had been sharply debated
in
                      recent weeks, and not just because of its effect
on these
                      employees. The law is unclear on whether workers
have
                      any right to privacy in the use of their office
computers.
                      But the federal court policy makes clear that
privacy
                      rights for all federal workers are minimal.
Judges, along
                      with other federal employees, do not have a "right
to use
                      government-office equipment for nongovernment
uses,"
                      the policy says.

                      In a second computer-related policy change, the
judges
                      said they want files in civil court cases to be
put on the
                      Internet so they can be accessed by anyone,
anywhere. They said certain
                      personal information, such as Social Security
numbers or medical data, will be
                      excluded.

                      If the paper files are now available to the public
in a courthouse, they should
                      also be available via computer on the Internet,
the judges said.

                      Some district courts are currently making some
civil court records available via a
                      for-pay Web site. Wednesday's decision will expand
the program to all district
                      courts.

                      For now, the new open-access policy covers only
civil matters, not criminal
                      cases. The judges said they will consider later
whether to put all criminal files on
                      the Internet.

                      While the move to put civil cases on the Internet
will affect more people, the
                      judges were focused more intently on the dispute
over their own computers.

                      In May, judges on the West Coast rebelled when
they learned their computers
                      were being monitored by the administrative office
of the U.S. courts in
                      Washington. Judge Alex Kozinski of Pasadena, who
sits on the U.S. 9th Circuit
                      Court of Appeals, said the surveillance was
illegal, and he and his colleagues
                      unplugged the monitoring system.

                      Court officials in Washington replied they are not
interested in spying on
                      individual workers or monitoring their e-mail.

                      Rather, they say, their concern was triggered by
evidence that large files had
                      been downloaded onto some courthouse computers
from Internet sites that
                      contain sexually explicit videos.

                      In response to Kozinski's protests, the
rule-making body dropped part of the
                      policy that says all court employees who use the
court's computers "consent to
                      monitoring."

                      But the rest of the policy detailing the
"unauthorized or improper use" of court
                      computers was adopted intact.

                      The policy change was to have been debated at the
Supreme Court on Sept. 11,
                      during the semiannual meeting of the U.S. Judicial
Conference.

                      The conference consists of 27 top judges
representing the federal circuit courts.
                      Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was there to
chair the meeting.

                      But the discussion had just begun about 10 a.m.
when word came that jetliners
                      had struck the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. Rehnquist called off the
                      meeting and the judges left the building.

                      Judges said this week it was the first time in 79
years that a meeting of the
                      Judicial Conference was canceled. Instead, the
judges voted by mail on the new
                      policy.

                      The two 9th Circuit judges who led the protest
said they were satisfied with the
                      compromise.

                      "We don't have a problem with saying that
extensive downloading is
                      inappropriate," said Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder
in Phoenix. "I voted in
                      favor of it."

                      Kozinski said he continues to believe that it is
illegal to monitor employees
                      without their consent. "We had a problem with the
monitoring part of this, and
                      they withdrew what we found most objectionable."