US Supreme Court rules against corporate privacy rights

[News_Editor]

US Supreme Court rules against corporate privacy rights

2011-03-02 03:21:50 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that corporations do not have right to personal privacy when the U.S. government wants to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The ruling rejects a claim brought by AT&T, which was trying to prevent the release of information compiled during an investigation of its billing practices by the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions have same free-speech rights as people.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the phrase "personal privacy" is understood to refer to persons, not to artificial entities like a corporation.

"We do not usually speak of personal characteristics, personal effects, personal correspondence, personal influence, or personal tragedy as a referring to corporations or other artificial entities," Roberts said, as cited by the L.A. Times.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-03-02