Redact

Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NH

Black out a document so the words underneath are actually gone, not just covered.

Most redaction fails the first time somebody tests it. Drawing a black rectangle in a PDF editor puts a shape on top of the words. The words are still in the file, and anyone can select them, copy them, and read what you meant to hide. Government agencies have published records this way. So have law firms, and so have newspapers.

This tool works differently. It converts every page to pixels first, burns the black in as part of the image, and builds a new PDF out of those images. The original text layer does not survive the trip, and neither does the file’s hidden information: author name, edit history, and the location a phone stores inside a photo. The tradeoff is that the file you get back is not searchable. That is not a side effect. That is the point.

Why this exists

New Hampshire law contemplates that a public body will redact before it releases. RSA 91-A:4, IV(f) gives a body protection from damages when it acts in good faith to redact exempt information, and says in as many words that automated redaction software used with spot checks qualifies as good faith. The statute assumes the software works. That assumption is doing a great deal of work.

The same problem belongs to anyone sending documents to a newsroom. Sending Granite State Report a record that carries your own name, a home address, a phone number, a case number, or a coworker’s name? Remove it before it leaves your hands, in a way that cannot be undone by selecting the text. Step 4 of the tool lists where to send the clean copy.