Rule 49.1. Privacy Protection For Filings Made with the Court
(a) Redacted Filings. Unless the court orders
otherwise, in an electronic or paper filing with the court that
contains an individual's
social-security number, taxpayer-identification number, or birth date,
the name of an individual known to be a minor, a financial-account
number, or the home address of an individual, a party or nonparty
making the filing may include only;
(1) the last four
digits of the social-security number and taxpayer-identification
number;
(2) the year of the individual's birth;
(3) the minor's initials;
(4) the last four digits of the financial-account
number; and
(5) the city and state of the home address.
(b) Exemptions from the Redaction Requirement.
The redaction
requirement does not apply to the following:
(1) a
financial-account number or real property address that identifies the
property allegedly subject to forfeiture in a forfeiture
proceeding;
(2) the record of an administrative or agency
proceeding;
(3) the official record of a state-court proceeding;
(4) the record of a court or tribunal, if that record
was not subject to the redaction requirement when originally filed;
(5) a filing covered by Rule 49.1(d);
(6) a pro se filing in an action brought under 28
U.S.C. §§ 2241, 2254, or 2255;
(7) a court filing that is related to a criminal
matter or investigation and that is prepared before the filing of a
criminal
charge or is not filed as part of any docketed criminal case;
(8) an arrest or search warrant; and
(9) a charging document and an affidavit filed in
support of any charging document.
(c) Immigration Cases. A filing in an action
brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 that relates to the petitioner's
immigration
rights is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2.
(d) Filings Made Under Seal. The court may
order that a filing be made under seal without redaction. The court may
later unseal the filing or order the person who made the filing to file
a redacted version for the public record.
(e) Protective Orders. For good cause, the
court may by order in a case:
(1) require redaction
of additional information; or
(2) limit or prohibit a nonparty's remote electronic
access to a document filed with the court.
(f) Option for Additional Unredacted Filing Under
Seal. A person making a redacted filing may also file an unredacted
copy under seal.
The court must retain the unredacted copy as part of the record.
(g) Option for Filing a Reference List. A
filing that contains redacted information may be filed together with a
reference list that
identifies each item of redacted information and specifies an
appropriate identifier that uniquely corresponds to each item listed.
The list must be filed under seal and may be amended as of right. Any
reference in the case to a listed identifier will be construed to refer
to the corresponding item of information.
(h) Waiver of Protection of Identifiers. A
person waives the
protection of Rule 49.1(a) as to the person's own information by filing
it without redaction and not under seal.
The full text of the Federal Rules can be found at http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/index.html.