Document Redaction Services for Government

Government offices across the US have been scanning their documents into electronic formats for over two decades, making the valuable information they manage easier to store and maintain. Many government records contain highly sensitive information or PII (Personally Identifiable Information). Once the data from a record room is made digital, the issue of safeguarding sensitive information on these documents becomes a concern, especially those that enter publicly-accessible websites. To remove sensitive information, electronic records go through a process called redaction or “sanitizing”. 

What are redaction services?

Redaction is the process of removing sensitive information in the form of text or images from an electronic document.  Government agencies and businesses use redaction services to remove sensitive information like date of birth, social security numbers, and account numbers that might be used for identity theft. 

Document redaction does more than simply covering up text or images on electronic records; it removes the information from the digital image completely to prevent the redaction from being removed by software programs.

What information needs to be redacted from government records?

There are many items that need to be redacted but redaction laws vary state by state. Some information that is typically redacted:

  • Dates of Birth DOB

  • Social Security Numbers SSN

  • Drivers Licence Numbers DL

  • Taxpayer-identification Number

  • Banking and financial information like account numbers

  • Medical or psychiatric and other HIPAA related information

  • Criminal ID numbers

Types of government records that we redact

  • Land records like mortgages and conveyances

  • Criminal records

  • Civil records

  • Marriage records

  • Wills

  • Bankruptcies 

  • Probate records

  • Succession records

  • Permits

  • Meeting minutes and agendas

Types of redaction services

There are two types of redaction, automated and manual. Both have their benefits but are different from a cost, time, and accuracy standpoint.

Automated redaction with OCR/ICR software

Automated redaction is handled by software that that reads the documents and redacts specified private information. OCR software is now capable of validating that all PII is removed on newer formats of documents at an extremely high rate. Redaction operators only need to verify and validate a very small percentage of hard-to-read characters that the redaction software flags. 

Manual redaction services for government records

Redaction software delivers highly accurate results on most modern document formats. Historical government collections come in a variety of formats and conditions. Many have degraded, come in unique formats including mixes of handwriting and machine-typed documents. 

In our home state of Louisiana, we enjoy seeing the beautiful calligraphy used to pen conveyance and mortgage records from a century ago. Older deed records from our neighbors in Mississippi tend to have social security numbers handwritten below signature lines. For a few decades around the 1950s, many offices used photostatic images. OCR software simply cannot accurately redact sensitive information from these records. 

In these and many other cases, human eyes simply cannot be replaced by software. Documents are run through OCR software at the beginning of manual redaction to location any items, but the documents still need manual operators to check each individual page.

Get a quote for redaction services

Revolution Data Systems has converted millions of paper documents to an electronic format for government clients across the US. Our highly trained technicians and data entry specialists have been trusted by hundreds of agencies for manual redaction services. To start a conversation with our team, complete the form on our contact page or call us now at 985-888-0091.