MediaPost is asking a judge to unseal a report filed by Google in response to a court order deactivating a Gmail user's account. In papers filed late Tuesday in federal court in the northern district of California, MediaPost argues that the report should be made available so the public can learn what steps Google took to comply with the court's order and what factors went into the disposition of the case. "The report is a judicial record and thus subject to the strong presumption of public access," MediaPost argues, adding that it "wants to see the document for the purpose of continuing to report on this case." The court proceedings in this matter stem from a mis-sent email. In August, the Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Bank mistakenly sent financial records of more than 1,000 customers to a Gmail address. When the bank realized its error, it sent a message to that same address asking the recipient to contact the bank and destroy the file without opening it. No one responded, so the bank contacted Google to ask for information about the account holder. Google refused to release any information about the account without a court order, which spurred the bank to file legal papers asking for the account holder's identity and also asking that the account be deactivated.
