You wouldn’t know it by the cloud cover and heavy rain we’ve experienced this week, but it’s Sunshine Week.

This time we’re not talking about the sun in the sky. Sunshine Week is about the public and the press’s right to know. It’s about openness in our government and open records. This year it comes at a time when a large percentage of adults see our federal government as secretive, and an even larger number believe it’s important they know the positions of presidential and congressional office-seekers on open government when they go to the polls.

Sunshine Week is an effort by national newspaper editors to educate the public about the importance of open government, and the danger brought on by government secrecy. Media outlets do a variety of things, from writing stories and editorials, to posting special Web pages every year in mid-March to encourage public discussion of open records and government.

Oklahoma media outlets have focused Sunshine Week efforts this year on a state Supreme Court rule that takes effect June 10. At that time, documents in the high court and 13 state district courts will be limited online to court dockets. Actual documents will no longer be available.

Records from those courts are on the www.oscn.net Web site. Cherokee County’s court records, however, are on the www.odcr.com site.

“The documents we file haven’t been available online since our records were computerized,” Court Clerk Shirley Glory said. “We have a public access computer where people can view documents.”

Cherokee County’s court records have been computerized since 1997, and a public access computer has been available since that time. Documents can be viewed on that computer.

Court officials have cited increased problems with identity theft as a reason for removing the documents from the Internet. Social security numbers, account numbers and other identifiers have previously been included on court documents.

Glory said a person came to the court clerk’s office this week with a series of documents to file and all of them had full nine-digit Social Security numbers on them.

“I told her she needed to remove all but the last four numbers,” Glory said. “They can bring the full number with them when they come to court, if they need to verify someone’s identity.”

Glory said the Supreme Court’s move to cut down on chances of identity theft is a good idea because it’s a big problem. She said, however, that a lack of information on court filings can create confusion.

“We have several people around here with the same names,” she explained. “A date of birth or Social Security number is a sure way to differentiate which person you’re filing a case against.”

Assistant District Attorney David Pierce had mixed feelings about the high court’s rule. He agrees with Glory that identity theft is a major issue and taking steps toward avoiding that with court records is a good thing.

He said the downfalls could be an ability to keep identities of defendants straight as a case progresses through the system.

Mark Thomas, the Oklahoma Press Association’s executive vice-president, doesn’t think possible identity theft is a sufficient enough reason for removing images of court documents from the Internet.