ANOTHER COURT THINKS CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE

Privacy Law - Most privacy practitioners would not consider a legal entity to have privacy rights. Rather, a legal entity may have trade secrets or contractual confidentiality protections. However, in its novel holding, the Third Circuit found that a corporation (AT&T) was protected by an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act hat applies to "unwarranted invasions of personal privacy." . . . This exemption, combined with FOIA's definition of "person" to include legal entities, enabled AT&T to successfully argue that a corporation has a right to privacy. . . . As a result, AT&T's competitors have not been able to obtain information about an FCC investigation of AT&T regarding AT&T's alleged overcharging of some of its customers.