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Introduction to Pennsylvania Public Records

Pennsylvania public records are subject to a law known as the "Right to Know" law. These laws are all part of the "Sunshine Laws" that followed the Freedom of Information act. The goal of these laws is to ensure that residents have access to anything that the government does, collects, or creates in order to remove the metaphorical cloud that often shields governments from the public eye.

Almost all information within the government is subject to Pennsylvania public records. This includes information on the state's people, because unless people are allowed to access information collected by the government, there is no way to monitor what the government is collecting. Luckily, there are some safeguards in place to ensure your privacy is not getting violated. Some of these exceptions include:

  • Any information that would result in a loss of funds for the state.
  • Any information that could cause physical, emotional, or financial harm to an individual.
  • Any information that endangers the safety of a building.

    • With the exception of most government specific information, any data that could reasonably violate the privacy or cause harm to a person or business is almost always excluded from Pennsylvania public records. Still, they do contain quite a bit of information for those that seek data on others.

    Free Pennsylvania Public Records