Corporations Have Personal Privacy

In AT&T Inc. v. FCC & USA, No 08-4024, the Third Circuit ruled that corporations have “personal privacy.”

Here are the facts of the case:

AT&T participated in a federal program administered by the FCC, designed to increase schools’ access to advanced telecommunications technology by providing equipment and services to elementary and secondary schools. AT&T billed the Government for the cost.

In August 2004, AT&T voluntarily reported to the FCC that it might have overcharged the Government for some work done. The FCC conducted an investigation, and ordered AT&T to produce some documents, such as invoices, internal e-mails providing pricing and billing information, names of employees…

In April 2005, CompTel, a trade association representing some of AT&T’s competitors, submitted a FOIA request for “[a]llpleadings and correspondence contained in” the Bureau’s AT&TE-Rate investigation file. AT&T submitted a letter to the Bureau opposing the request, arguing that the FCC collected the documents for law enforcement purposes, and therefore that the FCC regulations implementing FOIA’s exemptions prohibited disclosure.

Indeed, exemption 7(C) of the FOIA shields from mandatory disclosure “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information . . . could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C).

The FCC rejected AT&T’s argument, and held that the exemption does not apply to corporations because corporations lack “personal privacy” within the meaning of Exemption 7(C). According to the FCC, this interpretation accords with the Exemption’s purpose to protect key investigation players from the “literal embarrassment and danger” that an individual might suffer, rather than from the “more abstract impact” that a corporation might suffer.

AT&T filed a petition for review of the FCC’s order, arguing that the FCC incorrectly interpreted Exemption 7(C).

The Third Circuit interpreted Exemption 7(C)as defining a “person” to include a corporation:

FOIA’s exemptions indicate that Congress knew how to refer solely to human beings (to the exclusion of corporations and other legal entities) when it wanted to. Exemption 7(F), for example, protects information gathered pursuant to a law enforcementinvestigation that, if released, “could reasonably be expected toendanger the life or physical safety of any individual.” 5 U.S.C. §552(b)(7)(F) (emphasis added). Yet, Congress, in Exemption 7(C), did not refer to “the privacy of any individual” or some variant thereof; it used the phrase “personal privacy.”