Posted By: tapes farmed out to Hong Kong for transcription on 2005-08-25

Trial and hearing tapes were farmed out to Hong Kong for transcription, in violation of rule

Marion County judicial officials are investigating what appears to be an unprecedented security breach in which workers in Hong Kong prepared hearing and trial transcripts in a yet-to-be-determined number of cases.

The outsourcing of what is supposed to be an in-house court function has alarmed Indianapolis judges because these records often contain sensitive information and are critical for appellate judges to understand what transpired in courtrooms months or years before.

Local officials have informed the Indiana Supreme Court of the breach, and the court, which enforces rules on the handling of court records, is awaiting information from Marion County.

"This is prompting a thorough investigation," said Marion Superior Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, a member of the court's three-person executive committee. "We're talking about the record that goes up on appeal. If it's wrong, that's big stuff."

She said no judge is believed to have authorized a court employee or court employees to send official trial tapes offshore.

A spokesman for the Virginia-based National Association of Court Reporters said he was unaware of any U.S. court sending transcription work overseas and that the group has tried to determine whether it's going on.

"The best-quality transcript is prepared by someone who was present at the proceeding," said Marshall Jorpeland, the national group's communications director. "The best-educated English speaker in Hong Kong isn't going to know street slang unless they've moved there from here."

Other concerns include Social Security numbers appearing in transcripts, as well as the names and addresses of crime victims or their family members and sensitive information about employment or income, Jorpeland said.

Marion County's judicial leaders are trying to figure out how much work was sent overseas in violation of a local court requirement that transcriptions be done in-house by county employees to protect against privacy violations -- including identity theft -- and to ensure accuracy.

At least one court reporter has acknowledged some work on major felony cases was sent to a private firm, said Mark Renner, the Marion Superior Court administrator.

Renner declined to release the name of the court reporter or the judge for whom the reporter works. The employee has not been reprimanded but could face disciplinary action, including a possible dismissal.

Renner said the breach occurred after an experienced court reporter hired an Indianapolis transcription firm, Baynes & Shirey, which does business as ClearPoint Legal, to prepare transcripts. That work was then outsourced to Scriptero, a Hong Kong company that has more than 50 clients from all over the world that demand at least 4,000 transcripts a year, according to court officials and the company's Web site.

Neither company responded Tuesday to requests for comment.

No one is accusing either firm of wrongdoing. Renner said he intends to send a letter today to Baynes & Shirey asking for a complete list of proceedings the firm has transcribed for Marion County's court system.

On its Internet site, Scriptero says it is often hired to transcribe depositions, which usually are closely reviewed for accuracy by participants, and that it uses only native-language transcriptionists. The Hong Kong firm boasts a 99.75 percent accuracy rate, but that's been of little consolation to local officials.

"This assignment of transcripts to anyone other than another Superior Court reporter shall cease immediately unless the Judge of your Court gives you express permission to so assign the responsibility of transcription to some outside entity," Renner wrote in an e-mail sent Friday to court officials.

Renner said a Porter County judge notified Marion County officials of the breach last week after hearing about it from a member of the Indiana Shorthand Reporters Association

"An e-mail that was ultimately received by the Judge in Porter County from the company in Hong Kong confirmed that they had in fact been doing work from Marion County, including full transcripts from jury trials," Renner told court officials.

Tina DeBone, president of the Indiana reporters association, said she blew the whistle to court officials but did not name any of the firms involved. She said no Porter County judges were involved.

DeBone said she heard about the violation from a court reporter in Arizona who had been approached by the Hong Kong company. DeBone, a victim of identity theft, said she was worried about sensitive information falling into the hands of terrorists who might use it to enter the United States.

Farming out transcription work "is in complete violation of the reporter's contract that each reporter signed," Renner said in his e-mail. These contracts, signed with Marion Superior Court, do not provide for hiring private companies to do transcription work.

• Court records sent abroad - tapes farmed out to Hong Kong for transcription (Views: 390, 2005-08-25)