[Libs-Or] INFORMATION Fwd: [District Dispatch] U.S. Supreme Court hands down a win for FOIA in decision

[Diedre Conkling]

 U.S. Supreme Court hands down a win for FOIA in
decision<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5729>
March 02, 2011 ( No
Comments<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5729#comments>)

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in the case of the FCC vs. AT&T, deciding
that corporations do not have the right of personal privacy to prevent the
disclosure of documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

At issue in the case was information gathered by the FCC during an
investigation of AT&T’s participation in the E-rate program, a federal
telecommunications discount-based program for public libraries and
schools.   In December of 2004, the parties reached an agreement to resolve
allegations the FCC made against AT&T on overcharging the government.  Some
time later, COMPTEL, a trade group that represented some AT&T competitors,
filed a FOIA request for information the FCC had collected on AT&T during
their investigate

In response, AT&T filed suit and claiming that as a corporation it had a
reasonable expectation of “personal privacy” and thus the FOIA request was
not applicable.

In writing the unanimous opinion of the
court<http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-1279.pdf>,
Chief Justice Stevens offered up an educational, and somewhat cheeky, lesson
on the English language in his opinion, writing, “The protection of FOIA
against disclosure of law enforcement on the ground that it would constitute
an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy does not extend to
corporations.  We trust that AT&T will not take it personally.”
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5729

-- 

*Diedre Conkling**
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR 97365
Phone & Fax: 541-265-3066
Work email**: **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*
Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>
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