In addition to commercial offerings, the federal judiciary offers various electronic public access services to federal court information. These services permit the public to gain direct access to official court information and records from outside the courthouse. The following services are being offered:

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records): PACER allows any user with a personal computer or word processor to dial-in to a district or bankruptcy court computer and retrieve official electronic case information and court dockets usually in less than a minute. In accordance with Judicial Conference policy, most courts charge a $.60 per minute access fee for dial-up service and $.07 per page for Internet service. District PACER and BANCAP PACER each offer information in a different manner. Some courts have a locally-developed public access systems. These are referred to as NIBS or JAMS courts.

Persons desiring to use this service must first register with the PACER Service Center at 1-800 676-6856 or on the Internet at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/register.html. The federal courts continue to upgrade equipment and expand data retrieval options and reports. In addition, more jurisdictions will be offering 800 lines in order to eliminate long distance toll charges. Each court controls its own computer system and case information database; therefore, there are some variations among jurisdictions as to the information offered.

The U.S. Party/Case Index is a national index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. This index allows searches to determine whether or not a party is involved in federal litigation almost anywhere in the nation. The U.S. Party/Case Index provides the capability to perform national or regional searches on party name and social security number in the bankruptcy index, party name and nature of suit in the civil index, and party name in the criminal and appellate indices. The search will provide a list of case numbers, filing locations and filing dates for those cases matching the search criteria. The U.S. Party/Case Index is available on the Internet and through the traditional dial-up service. The dial-up service is accessible with a terminal emulation of vt100 and settings of N/8/1. The toll-free modem number is (800) 974-8896 or (210) 301-6499 if residing in the San Antonio area. The Internet service is available on the World Wide Web at Pacer Service Center. For more information on the U.S. Party/Case Index, visit the USPCI Overview here.

In accordance with Judicial Conference policy, the PACER Service Center charges a $.60 per minute access fee for dial-up service and $.07 per page for Internet service. Persons desiring to use this service must first register with the PACER Service Center at 1-800 676-6856 or on the Internet at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/register.html.

The PACER Service Center Web Site has been established by the federal court's centralized registration and billing service in San Antonio, Texas. This service is available at no charge and allows registrants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access to their account information. The service: (a) provides an updated listing of courts serviced by the PACER Service Center, (b) automatically registers users for additional courts and changes passwords, (c) reviews the users billing history for all courts, (d) provides user manuals and status reports on each court's PACER system (e.g., courts with computer disruptions or other technical problems), and (e) provides an e-mail address for users to leave messages and comments for PACER Service Center personnel. To access this service, visit our site at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/.

VCIS (Voice Case Information System) and AVIS (Appellate Voice Information System): VCIS and AVIS use an automated voice response system to read a limited amount of bankruptcy or appellate case information directly from the court's database in response to Touch-Tone telephone inquiries. Access to the VCIS and the AVIS is currently offered at no cost.