The government housing Jeffrey Epstein’s newly revealed files had only one task.
Unfortunately, PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) has been unable to resist the growing demand for documents mentioning figures such as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Stephen Hawking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. According to Vice, PACER’s online page crashed at one point after downloading documents containing flight logs, unredacted testimony, and incriminating headline points about Epstein’s dealings with several well-known names.
Wednesday night at 7 p. m. La U. S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered documents related to a civil lawsuit against Epstein’s sex trafficking assistant/wife, Ghislaine Maxwell. But within minutes, the case crashed.
The PACER site is notoriously superseded and buggy. Most people don’t have to deal with this tedious and overly confusing platform normally. But this is one of the highest-profile cases in recent history, which has put PACER in the spotlight. PACER desperately wants a redesign of its site, but the crash also underscores the immense demand for details about Epstein’s black book and the high-profile figures complicit in his connections.
Luckily, some people were quick enough to download the documents before the site crashed, so there are many places where you can view the 900 pages of case documents. However, it’s not a great look for digital age democracy.
You can read and download the documents for free through sites like PlainSite and 404 Media. But to access them on PACER, you need to pay 10 cents per page. That’s right, PACER charges you for public folders.
As it turns out, the site is back, but what’s the point when you can get them for free?
Cecily is a technology reporter at Mashable covering AI, Apple, and emerging tech trends. Prior to earning her master’s degree at Columbia Journalism School, she spent several years working in startups and social influencers in corporations for Unreasonable Group and B Lab. Prior to that, he co-founded a new consulting firm for emerging business centers in South America, Europe, and Asia. You can reach her on Twitter at @cecily_mauran.