Appellate Rule 25(a)(5), Bankruptcy Rule 9037, Civil Rule 5.2, and Criminal Rule 49.1 require parties and nonparties to redact certain personally identifiable information (PII) in documents they file with the federal courts, including Social Security numbers (SSNs), individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs), birthdates, minors’ names, financial account numbers, and, in criminal filings, home addresses.

The Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM) has also encouraged courts to redact the names of nongovernment parties in publicly available Social Security and immigration opinions and orders (including reports and recommendations) to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. 

Following its December 2022 meeting, CACM asked the Federal Judicial Center (Center) to conduct the following research:

• estimate the prevalence of unredacted SSNs, ITINs, birthdates, minors’ names, financial account numbers, and, in criminal cases, individuals’ home addresses in federal court documents available in the Public Access to Electronic Records (PACER) service.
• determine whether unredacted PII is more common in particular types of court filings and proceedings, especially pro se filings, guardian ad litem documents, filings in Social Security actions, notices of removal from state court, and proof of claim filings in bankruptcy cases.
• assess how often full nongovernment party names are included in opinions and orders in Social Security and immigration cases.

Below are links to the Center’s final project report summarizing all research findings, along with previously completed reports and memorandums containing research findings as presented to the committee over the course of the project (see Attachments A-J).

Click here for an overview of the Center’s research findings.