Automated Anonymization of Court Decisions: Facilitating the Publication of Court Decisions through Algorithmic Systems

The practice of anonymization of court decisions has been further systematized by EU Member States’ courts, after the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation and its transposition into national laws. Anonymization of the parties’ personal information protects their privacy during the publication of judgments, which is necessary for the scrutiny of the judiciary’s reasoning in a given case and the filing of an appeal whenever a party disagrees with the court’s reasoning and/or order. European courts have recently resorted to algorithmic approaches to automate the process of anonymization, which can bestow prompt and consistent application of anonymization rules for court administrations to comply with the applicable personal data protection legislation. These automated solutions can also encompass technical and administrative challenges, ranging from re-ιdentification risks that compromise the protection of the parties’ personal data to the lack of acceptance of the algorithmic system by court staff during their daily work routine. The present paper reviews current anonymization practices conducted through algorithmic techniques by, first, explaining the legal framework underlying the publication and anonymization of court decisions, second, examining three algorithmic solutions for the anonymization of court decisions by different EU Member States, and third, reflecting on their efficiencies and challenges for court administrations.