Corporations Now Have a Right To "Personal Privacy"
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/02/1251203/Corporations-Now-Have-a-Right-To-Personal-Privacy?art_pos=32
QuoteI Don't Believe in Imaginary Property (http://www.eff.org/support) writes
"Thanks to a recent ruling (http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/084024p.pdf) (PDF) by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, corporations now have a right to 'personal privacy,' (http://privacylaw.proskauer.com/2009/09/articles/foia/since-when-does-a-legal-entity-have-privacy-rights/) due to the application of a carelessly worded definition in the Freedom of Information Act. FOIA exempts disclosure of certain records, but only if it 'could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.' But in its definitions, FOIA makes the mistake of broadly defining 'person' to include legal entities, like corporations. The FCC didn't think that 'personal privacy' could apply to a corporation, so they ignored AT&T's claim that releasing data from an investigation into how AT&T was overcharging certain customers would violate the corporation's privacy. The Third Circuit thought that the FCC's actions were contrary to what the law actually says. So now the FCC has to jump through more hoops to show that releasing data on their investigation into AT&T's overcharging is 'warranted' within the meaning of 5 USC 552(b)(7)(c) (http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/5/I/5/II/552) before it can release anything."
Click here to read the comments @ Slashdot. (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/02/1251203/Corporations-Now-Have-a-Right-To-Personal-Privacy)
This will not end well.
Dug thro the slashdot comments and found this very interesting article:
Sotomayor Issues Challenge to a Century of Corporate Law (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125314088285517643.html)
Looks like Sonia actually wants to re-visit this precedent. That may be positive.... I suppose we have to wait and find out, tho.
She might not want to ride any open top cars in Dallas if she decides to go ahead with that.
Not that I'm holding out much actual luck of anything more than a token rearrangement of the existing laws, anyway.
:lulz: