1st Day OpenCourt Live-Blog News: $100 Fine; Lunch Break; Should Video Archive Access Be Banned?
Screen shot of live streaming from courtroom
on Tuesday.
An experimental OpenCourt project is under way in Quincy, Mass., where information in real time about arraignments and similar doings in Quincy District Court will now be available online through Twitter, live Web streaming and a live blog that provides the text of the tweets.
News on the project’s first day today ranged from the mundane (man fined $100 for drinking in park; now it’s time for lunch) to the substantive (arguments on a move to block public access to the video archive), according to PC Magazine and the OpenCourt site.
One exception to the policy of providing public access online is hearings in which restraining orders are sought. At least for right now, at the outset of the project, issues of privacy and safety outweigh a desire for increased transparency concerning court proceedings, project organizers say.
A page on the OpenCourts website provides additional information.
Last updated May 3 to add image of live streaming from Tuesday’s court session.
