Redaction obscures privileged content, personal identifiers, or material outside the scope of discovery while producing the rest of the document. Court rules require redaction of specified identifiers in public filings.
Produced redactions are typically logged so the opposing party can assess the basis.
Alternative Names:
Document Redaction, Masking
Why it Matters?
Improper redaction is a persistent technical failure, since drawing a black box over text in a PDF without removing the underlying layer leaves the content recoverable and searchable. That has produced well-publicized disclosures in significant matters. Relevance redactions are separately contentious, because most courts hold a party may not unilaterally redact non-privileged material simply because it considers it irrelevant.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Can a party redact material it considers irrelevant?
What is the common technical failure?
