Open Justice and the Challenge of Privacy and Personal Data Protection in Ecuador's Electronic Case System

Ecuador's electronic filing platform (SATJE) routinely exposes litigants' full identifiers and sensitive information, undermining the constitutional guarantees of privacy and personal-data protection. To measure the scale of the problem, we reviewed all 933 constitutional filings lodged in 2023 before Quito's North Judicial Complex, isolated the 270 petitions granted at first instance, and examined 78 digital case files-treating each judicial tier as a separate analytical unit. We coded every docket, classified disclosures into seven statutory categories, and recorded their anonymization status. Of the 78 evaluable files, 94.9% contained no anonymization whatsoever. Names, identity numbers and sensitive particulars persisted across the record; data concerning disability appeared in 33.3% of cases and information on minors in 25.6%, whereas asset data were rare (2.6%). All instances of anonymization - partial or total-concerned minors only. These findings show that Ecuador's digital-justice architecture privileges transparency over privacy, leaving personal data perpetually exposed to every online visitor. We argue that a judiciary-wide anonymization protocol, implemented by designated data-protection officers, is now imperative. Default suppression of personal data offers the most viable route to reconcile open-justice ideals with constitutional obligations and to restore public trust in electronic justice.