The two federal laws most people might normally consider in terms of protections around both access and privacy are actually limited in terms of the protections they offer with respect to information in court records.

The federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)and the federal Privacy Act both offer citizens the right to ask for access to records collected and maintained by the federal government. FOIA gives this right to any citizen, while the Privacy Act grants it only to the person who is the subject of those records.

While FOIA covers all federal agency records (barring nine exemptions and three law enforcement exclusions), the Privacy Act only covers information collected and stored by government in a system of records retrieved (but not necessarily retrievable) by a person's name or other personal identifier (like Social Security number).

The federal FOIA and the federal Privacy Act only apply to the federal executive branch, not the judicial or legislative branches, or to state and local governments. Individual states and localities have their own laws and procedures regarding privacy, security, and access to records.