Electronic “Redactions” Not Always Effective: Greater Caution In Dealing With Sensitive Materials In Trade Secret Cases Necessary

The ABA Journal reports that a Princeton PhD candidate study has found electronic “redactions” included on PDF documents may not always be effective. Specifically, the study revealed that a computer program was able to scan 1.8 million Pacer filed documents, identify 2,000 documents that contained redactions (in the form of the ubiquitous “black boxes” obscuring the confidential information) and further identify 194 of these redactions which were able to be removed and the “confidential” information revealed. The “flaw” appears to be in the PDF documents themselves, and how they were created. The author of the study, Timothy Lee, explained that PDF documents consist of multiple layers, and that an improperly placed “redaction box” might not completely obscure the confidential information which is sought to be protected. Mr. Lee explains that “retrieving” the redacted information could be as simple as cutting and pasting from the PDF document. 

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