{"exhaustive":{"nbHits":true,"typo":true},"exhaustiveNbHits":true,"exhaustiveTypo":true,"hits":[{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"hn_acker"},"title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["story","author_hn_acker","story_48600946"],"author":"hn_acker","children":[48601141,48602358,48602743,48602798,48602869,48603027,48603126,48603780,48603845,48603982,48604100,48604236,48604591,48605246,48605469,48606283,48607354,48607867,48611261,48611709,48626350],"created_at":"2026-06-19T17:34:18Z","created_at_i":1781890458,"num_comments":142,"objectID":"48600946","points":535,"story_id":48600946,"title":"Court Records Should Be Free","updated_at":"2026-07-31T12:29:31Z","url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"zftnb666"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Public records should be public. Charging for them is just a tax on knowing the law."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_zftnb666","story_48600946"],"author":"zftnb666","comment_text":"Public records should be public. Charging for them is just a tax on knowing the law.","created_at":"2026-06-22T06:08:54Z","created_at_i":1782108534,"objectID":"48626350","parent_id":48600946,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-22T20:29:57Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"musicale"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Is that you Gemini?"},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_musicale","story_48600946"],"author":"musicale","comment_text":"Is that you Gemini?","created_at":"2026-06-22T03:13:37Z","created_at_i":1782098017,"objectID":"48625213","parent_id":48602743,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-22T03:17:39Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Fair enough, I was thinking about what the government could do without major congressional action. But still, not going to happen. For many reasons, but one of them is constitutional.<p>WestLaw is expressive. It's tricky to do targeted taxes on expressive organizations. Pesky First Amendment.<p>The big reason nothing like this is going to happen is that there are like 40 nerds in the country that care about it, and then a huge majority of the population that is reasonably well served by the current compromise."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","comment_text":"Fair enough, I was thinking about what the government could do without major congressional action. But still, not going to happen. For many reasons, but one of them is constitutional.<p>WestLaw is expressive. It&#x27;s tricky to do targeted taxes on expressive organizations. Pesky First Amendment.<p>The big reason nothing like this is going to happen is that there are like 40 nerds in the country that care about it, and then a huge majority of the population that is reasonably well served by the current compromise.","created_at":"2026-06-21T18:15:47Z","created_at_i":1782065747,"objectID":"48621191","parent_id":48621120,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T20:13:37Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"lukeschlather"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Really? Here are 3 examples, I'm not sure what you mean, Congress has extremely broad taxing authority. If what I suggest is unconstitutional (I'm curious to hear your justification for that) they could probably do it by putting terms of use on the PACER data, have a paid tier specifically for orgs that resell the data.<p>* Sports gambling excise tax: <a href=\"https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/sports-wagering\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...</a><p>* <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_telephone_excise_tax\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_telephone_excise_tax</a><p>* Indoor tanning services: <a href=\"https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/excise-tax-on-indoor-tanning-services-frequently-asked-questions\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...</a>"},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_lukeschlather","story_48600946"],"author":"lukeschlather","children":[48621191],"comment_text":"Really? Here are 3 examples, I&#x27;m not sure what you mean, Congress has extremely broad taxing authority. If what I suggest is unconstitutional (I&#x27;m curious to hear your justification for that) they could probably do it by putting terms of use on the PACER data, have a paid tier specifically for orgs that resell the data.<p>* Sports gambling excise tax: <a href=\"https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irs.gov&#x2F;businesses&#x2F;small-businesses-self-employed&#x2F;sports-wagering\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irs.gov&#x2F;businesses&#x2F;small-businesses-self-employe...</a><p>* <a href=\"https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Federal_telephone_excise_tax\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Federal_telephone_excise_tax</a><p>* Indoor tanning services: <a href=\"https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irs.gov&#x2F;businesses&#x2F;small-businesses-self-employed&#x2F;excise-tax-on-indoor-tanning-services-frequently-asked-questions\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irs.gov&#x2F;businesses&#x2F;small-businesses-self-employe...</a>","created_at":"2026-06-21T18:08:16Z","created_at_i":1782065296,"objectID":"48621120","parent_id":48619164,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T20:13:07Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"mistrial9"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"checkout &quot;batteries&quot; for new info<p>agree, state grid is no joke"},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_mistrial9","story_48600946"],"author":"mistrial9","comment_text":"checkout &quot;batteries&quot; for new info<p>agree, state grid is no joke","created_at":"2026-06-21T18:02:19Z","created_at_i":1782064939,"objectID":"48621051","parent_id":48611007,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T18:06:53Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"The federal government can apply fee structures to services it offers. It cannot in fact just randomly point at things private organizations do and tax them."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","children":[48621120],"comment_text":"The federal government can apply fee structures to services it offers. It cannot in fact just randomly point at things private organizations do and tax them.","created_at":"2026-06-21T14:13:14Z","created_at_i":1782051194,"objectID":"48619164","parent_id":48616634,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T18:08:53Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"AnthonyMouse"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Obviously the argument is that they shouldn't constrain the supply."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_AnthonyMouse","story_48600946"],"author":"AnthonyMouse","comment_text":"Obviously the argument is that they shouldn&#x27;t constrain the supply.","created_at":"2026-06-21T08:46:36Z","created_at_i":1782031596,"objectID":"48616926","parent_id":48614418,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T23:16:38Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"lukeschlather"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"You asserted that we need the money PACER fees bring in - taxing businesses like LexisNexis seems like a way to get the same kind of money that wouldn't be regressive, if we really need to replace that revenue, and it comes from more or less the same place, without being paid by people who can't afford it."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_lukeschlather","story_48600946"],"author":"lukeschlather","children":[48619164],"comment_text":"You asserted that we need the money PACER fees bring in - taxing businesses like LexisNexis seems like a way to get the same kind of money that wouldn&#x27;t be regressive, if we really need to replace that revenue, and it comes from more or less the same place, without being paid by people who can&#x27;t afford it.","created_at":"2026-06-21T07:51:41Z","created_at_i":1782028301,"objectID":"48616634","parent_id":48612386,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T14:14:07Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"charcircuit"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Being able to upload new files? That's also cheap."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_charcircuit","story_48600946"],"author":"charcircuit","comment_text":"Being able to upload new files? That&#x27;s also cheap.","created_at":"2026-06-21T05:27:22Z","created_at_i":1782019642,"objectID":"48615936","parent_id":48612399,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T10:52:06Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Drug prices are less than 10% of all US health care spending. Drive all drug prices to zero dollars and we get a grocery store circular discount on total health costs."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","comment_text":"Drug prices are less than 10% of all US health care spending. Drive all drug prices to zero dollars and we get a grocery store circular discount on total health costs.","created_at":"2026-06-21T01:26:44Z","created_at_i":1782005204,"objectID":"48614791","parent_id":48612114,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T05:39:50Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"adampunk"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"That\u2019s right. And use taxes can and should be calibrated to not just collect money but achieve public policy objectives. If the real marginal cost were close to 10 cents a page, we might be able to argue that funding the system other ways would be more distortionary but it\u2019s not. We have decided with lots of static file services (including Supreme Court opinions) that the right use tax is 0, because zero-cost access is a desirable quality in itself."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_adampunk","story_48600946"],"author":"adampunk","comment_text":"That\u2019s right. And use taxes can and should be calibrated to not just collect money but achieve public policy objectives. If the real marginal cost were close to 10 cents a page, we might be able to argue that funding the system other ways would be more distortionary but it\u2019s not. We have decided with lots of static file services (including Supreme Court opinions) that the right use tax is 0, because zero-cost access is a desirable quality in itself.","created_at":"2026-06-21T00:23:14Z","created_at_i":1782001394,"objectID":"48614440","parent_id":48613244,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T02:23:04Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"cucumber3732842"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"That's the magic of it.  You can't just conjure plumbers out of thin air, have some  handyman do it, threaten to have your uncle from another state do it, etc, etc, because in order to get your magic piece of paper that says you've done the work the person doing it needs to be licensed by (an agency deputized by) the government and that intentionally takes time to constrain supply.<p>If this were the government telling everyone to buy landscaping services or something else that's not intentionally supply constrained by the government to benefit incumbent you'd have an argument."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_cucumber3732842","story_48600946"],"author":"cucumber3732842","children":[48616926],"comment_text":"That&#x27;s the magic of it.  You can&#x27;t just conjure plumbers out of thin air, have some  handyman do it, threaten to have your uncle from another state do it, etc, etc, because in order to get your magic piece of paper that says you&#x27;ve done the work the person doing it needs to be licensed by (an agency deputized by) the government and that intentionally takes time to constrain supply.<p>If this were the government telling everyone to buy landscaping services or something else that&#x27;s not intentionally supply constrained by the government to benefit incumbent you&#x27;d have an argument.","created_at":"2026-06-21T00:18:47Z","created_at_i":1782001127,"objectID":"48614418","parent_id":48611966,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-23T06:36:44Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"greyface-"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"&gt; straightforwardly regressive<p>Fiscally?  Sure.  In terms of liberty?  Absolutely not.  We are talking about <i>public access to law</i>, which is foundational to a free society.<p>Federal courts are not strictly limited by tax revenue in the same way that state courts are, and I am more sympathetic to this line of argument on the state level.  Finding replacement revenue is a legitimate concern, but a secondary one due to the federal government's deficit spending privilege."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_greyface-","story_48600946"],"author":"greyface-","comment_text":"&gt; straightforwardly regressive<p>Fiscally?  Sure.  In terms of liberty?  Absolutely not.  We are talking about <i>public access to law</i>, which is foundational to a free society.<p>Federal courts are not strictly limited by tax revenue in the same way that state courts are, and I am more sympathetic to this line of argument on the state level.  Finding replacement revenue is a legitimate concern, but a secondary one due to the federal government&#x27;s deficit spending privilege.","created_at":"2026-06-20T23:02:19Z","created_at_i":1781996539,"objectID":"48613831","parent_id":48605246,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T14:42:36Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"No, it pays for costs <i>unrelated to serving static content</i>. It's a use tax. The fees do not entirely have to do with paying for a website."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","children":[48614440],"comment_text":"No, it pays for costs <i>unrelated to serving static content</i>. It&#x27;s a use tax. The fees do not entirely have to do with paying for a website.","created_at":"2026-06-20T21:42:00Z","created_at_i":1781991720,"objectID":"48613244","parent_id":48613019,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T02:42:05Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"adampunk"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Right, but 1: We already pay for the fixed costs and 2: the real marginal cost--however you want to measure it--is still closer to 0 than 10 cents."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_adampunk","story_48600946"],"author":"adampunk","children":[48613244],"comment_text":"Right, but 1: We already pay for the fixed costs and 2: the real marginal cost--however you want to measure it--is still closer to 0 than 10 cents.","created_at":"2026-06-20T21:12:54Z","created_at_i":1781989974,"objectID":"48613019","parent_id":48612395,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-20T21:42:34Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"ipython"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Power politics? That seems a bit extreme. I\u2019m just advocating for free access to more of the legal system.<p>I gave the example of museums and libraries which I assume we all agree are public goods and worth funding with tax dollars. In your example with criminal justice, we fund public defenders as well.<p>Knowledge as a whole is a supply side constrained system (maybe changing with llms??). As we have experienced, parents are more than willing to pay any price to send their kids to the most expensive (exclusive) college they can afford, to include going into debt. Yet we still find it useful as a society to fund public school and libraries so we can democratize knowledge to those with the interest to do so.<p>I think it\u2019s been quite obvious for the past twenty years that any additional cost ultimately is passed to the customer. In the early 2000s the \u201cfuel surcharges\u201d started slipping in. Then telco companies started adding on fees for any compliance regime they were subject to. And so on it goes."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_ipython","story_48600946"],"author":"ipython","comment_text":"Power politics? That seems a bit extreme. I\u2019m just advocating for free access to more of the legal system.<p>I gave the example of museums and libraries which I assume we all agree are public goods and worth funding with tax dollars. In your example with criminal justice, we fund public defenders as well.<p>Knowledge as a whole is a supply side constrained system (maybe changing with llms??). As we have experienced, parents are more than willing to pay any price to send their kids to the most expensive (exclusive) college they can afford, to include going into debt. Yet we still find it useful as a society to fund public school and libraries so we can democratize knowledge to those with the interest to do so.<p>I think it\u2019s been quite obvious for the past twenty years that any additional cost ultimately is passed to the customer. In the early 2000s the \u201cfuel surcharges\u201d started slipping in. Then telco companies started adding on fees for any compliance regime they were subject to. And so on it goes.","created_at":"2026-06-20T20:27:56Z","created_at_i":1781987276,"objectID":"48612687","parent_id":48607877,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-20T20:41:04Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"AnthonyMouse"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"&quot;Collective bargaining&quot; is essentially a strategy for contending with a monopolist by getting your own. There are three major problems with it.<p>The first is that it doesn't actually get you out of the monopoly. If there is an uncompetitive market and you're <i>required by law</i> (or otherwise compelled) to purchase their services, making the buyer a monopsony still doesn't give them any leverage because they have to contract for the services even if the provider won't lower the price, and the provider knows that.<p>The second is that the purchasing bureaucracy then becomes a target for capture and has all the wrong incentives to resist it. They control a trillion dollars in purchasing power but it's really about a million providers getting an average of a million dollars each. That's the recipe for doing something inefficient a million times over because every provider wants to get $2M instead of $500k and will lobby for regulations or offer kickbacks or commit fraud to get it, and the public doesn't have the bandwidth to apprehend a million individual cases of things going crooked when each one is only 0.0001% of the total. And meanwhile &quot;a million providers&quot; still doesn't imply there is real competition to get you out of (1), because a radiology lab in Philadelphia isn't a substitute for a neurologist in Denver or vice versa.<p>The third is that you still don't have any sensible pricing mechanism. Even if you have a monopsony, how do they come up with a price to offer? Dart board? Demanding to look at the supplier's accounts, thereby giving the supplier an incentive to waste money because they're getting cost plus? The only real way to give them the incentive to do it for less if they can is to have alternate suppliers so that they each lose the contract if they don't offer the best price, but <i>not</i> having that was the original problem that &quot;collective bargaining&quot; was supposed to address.<p>Whereas if you instead focus on sustaining a competitive market then &quot;collective bargaining&quot; is just wasteful overhead, because the competition is already keeping margins thin so there is little more to extract from the supplier and you're only unnecessarily subjecting yourself to a layer of indirection and the principal-agent problem."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_AnthonyMouse","story_48600946"],"author":"AnthonyMouse","comment_text":"&quot;Collective bargaining&quot; is essentially a strategy for contending with a monopolist by getting your own. There are three major problems with it.<p>The first is that it doesn&#x27;t actually get you out of the monopoly. If there is an uncompetitive market and you&#x27;re <i>required by law</i> (or otherwise compelled) to purchase their services, making the buyer a monopsony still doesn&#x27;t give them any leverage because they have to contract for the services even if the provider won&#x27;t lower the price, and the provider knows that.<p>The second is that the purchasing bureaucracy then becomes a target for capture and has all the wrong incentives to resist it. They control a trillion dollars in purchasing power but it&#x27;s really about a million providers getting an average of a million dollars each. That&#x27;s the recipe for doing something inefficient a million times over because every provider wants to get $2M instead of $500k and will lobby for regulations or offer kickbacks or commit fraud to get it, and the public doesn&#x27;t have the bandwidth to apprehend a million individual cases of things going crooked when each one is only 0.0001% of the total. And meanwhile &quot;a million providers&quot; still doesn&#x27;t imply there is real competition to get you out of (1), because a radiology lab in Philadelphia isn&#x27;t a substitute for a neurologist in Denver or vice versa.<p>The third is that you still don&#x27;t have any sensible pricing mechanism. Even if you have a monopsony, how do they come up with a price to offer? Dart board? Demanding to look at the supplier&#x27;s accounts, thereby giving the supplier an incentive to waste money because they&#x27;re getting cost plus? The only real way to give them the incentive to do it for less if they can is to have alternate suppliers so that they each lose the contract if they don&#x27;t offer the best price, but <i>not</i> having that was the original problem that &quot;collective bargaining&quot; was supposed to address.<p>Whereas if you instead focus on sustaining a competitive market then &quot;collective bargaining&quot; is just wasteful overhead, because the competition is already keeping margins thin so there is little more to extract from the supplier and you&#x27;re only unnecessarily subjecting yourself to a layer of indirection and the principal-agent problem.","created_at":"2026-06-20T20:15:45Z","created_at_i":1781986545,"objectID":"48612603","parent_id":48608638,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-23T17:45:46Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"That's not what PACER fees pay for."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","children":[48615936],"comment_text":"That&#x27;s not what PACER fees pay for.","created_at":"2026-06-20T19:51:23Z","created_at_i":1781985083,"objectID":"48612399","parent_id":48608411,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T05:27:50Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"tptacek"},"comment_text":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Again: PACER fees do not simply pay for the marginal cost of delivering a static file."},"story_title":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Court Records Should Be Free"},"story_url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free"}},"_tags":["comment","author_tptacek","story_48600946"],"author":"tptacek","children":[48613019],"comment_text":"Again: PACER fees do not simply pay for the marginal cost of delivering a static file.","created_at":"2026-06-20T19:51:05Z","created_at_i":1781985065,"objectID":"48612395","parent_id":48612197,"story_id":48600946,"story_title":"Court Records Should Be Free","story_url":"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/court-records-should-be-free","updated_at":"2026-06-21T02:42:05Z"}],"hitsPerPage":20,"nbHits":143,"nbPages":8,"page":0,"params":"tags=story_48600946&advancedSyntax=true&analyticsTags=backend","processingTimeMS":1,"processingTimingsMS":{"_request":{"roundTrip":24},"afterFetch":{"merge":{"mergeLoop":{"prepareNextHit":1,"total":1},"total":1},"total":1},"total":2},"query":"","serverTimeMS":3}
