PracticalObscurity

: Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens noted that while most of the material contained in the FBI's rap sheets was public, private citizens had hitherto benefited from their "practical obscurity." "There is a vast difference between the public records that might be found after a diligent search of courthouse files, county archives and local police stations throughout the country and a computerized summary located in a single clearinghouse,"

Stevens wrote in the 1989 Justice Dept. v. Reporters Committee decision.

: Which means that it was all right to make paper records available, because they were effectively inaccessible to all but the most determined, or those rich enough to hire paid researchers. As far as the common man or woman was concerned, the records might as well be located on the Moon -- and this situation was a good thing, according to Stevens.

Discussion