法庭錄音的公開及其限制──司法獨立、司法課責與隱私保護

Public Access to Audio Court Recordings and Its Limits—Judicial Independence, Judicial Accountability, and the Protection of Individual Privacy

二○一三年底修正公布的「法庭錄音及其利用保存辦法」引發資訊隱私權與訴訟權保障間的衝突。二○一五年中，法院組織法的修正，雖然解決部分問題，但卻未能突破法庭錄音僅對訴訟相關當事人公開的限制。本文從上述爭議出發，希望釐清法庭錄音公開的目的除輔助筆錄製作外，是否還有維護司法獨立及司法課責的意義，並深入分析法庭錄音公開所涉及的資訊隱私權爭議，嘗試參考美國經驗及臺灣實務見解，就如何取得法庭錄音公開與相關當事人隱私利益的平衡，提出建議，俾供未來修法參考。

The Promulgation of the Regulations on the Use and Storage of Audio Court Recordings in 2013 has sparked a debate between the protection of information privacy and the right to litigation. Although the amendment of the Court Organization Act in 2015 partially solved this problem, the bigger issue regarding the access to court recordings by the general public was left unanswered. First, this article seeks to clarify the purpose of access to audio court recordings; it asks that in addition to assisting the preparation of court records, do audio court recordings also serve other functions, such as preserving judicial independence and accountability? Furthermore, this paper will also analyze the potential information privacy issues resulting from public access to court recordings. By analyzing U.S. practices and taking into account of Taiwans existing judicial opinions, this article aims to provide concrete suggestions on how to balance public interests of greater access to court recordings versus the potential harms to individual privacy that might result from such access.