The trend by courts to restrict the availability of criminal records made a short swing past the American Bar Association which killed a proposal at its annual conference on Friday that would have recommend state and federal courts seal criminal records. Vigorous lobbying by media First Amendment advocates and business groups lead to the measuring being withdrawn before it got to a vote. Initial story reported by Corruption Chronicles.

An Opinion issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court that revises permissible access to court records is now in effect. Information in case records that is now considered confidential includes litigant addresses and phone numbers, Social Security numbers and information about cases expunged or sealed. Bulk sale of criminal case information to the public or for commercial purposes is prohibited.

Cut-and-paste does not an admissible court document make when collecting data from an Internet Web site, according to a Nebraska District Court. Read the analysis at Internet Business Law Services.