AT&T asks top court to recognize its ‘personal privacy'

[avaistheone1]

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on a case between AT&T and the Federal Communications Commission, revisiting the legal concept of “corporate personhood” last strengthened under the court’s Citizens United ruling on corporate campaign spending. (That controversial ruling has its first anniversary this week.)

The case before the court focuses on whether AT&T, a corporation, can stop government agencies from releasing information obtained for law enforcement purposes by claiming such disclosures would violate the company’s “personal privacy.”

The phrase is included as an exemption in the text of the Freedom of Information Act, a federal law that instructs government agencies on what information to make public. As the SCOTUS blog notes, however, there’s no specific definition of the words “personal privacy,” so it’s not clear whether a corporation can qualify as a person in this case.

The lower court, the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, sided with AT&T in an earlier ruling, stating that corporations are capable of being embarrassed, harassed and stigmatized by public disclosures. If the Supreme Court agrees, it could limit how much information federal agencies are able to release about the companies they've investigated. (Here's Bloomberg, with more background.)

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/att-top-court-personal-privacy/




:rofl:

But of course~

[KansDem]

1. !!!

:spray:

[Angry Dragon]

2. What the hell is going on in this country

Next they will want the corps to be able to vote

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. You knew it was going to happen.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

4. This is the add-on to Citizens United

Corprats will claim "personal privacy" to keep their dirty, parasitic, psychopathic practices from being disclosed.

THEY can violate an actual human being's personal privacy with impunity though - and they often do.

What do they call a country where corprat entities have more human rights than actual human beings?

[spanone]

5. this is unbelievable.....facism supreme

[somone]

6. How about a corporate death penalty

[lpbk2713]

7. Let me see if I have a handle on this.

The telecomms can snoop on anyone they want to at any time without due process.
But when it comes to anyone scrutinizing their activities they piss and moan.
Please excuse me while I LMAO.