In FCC v. AT&T, the United States Supreme Court held that an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") for "records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes," that "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" does not extend to corporations.  2011 WL 691243.

CompTel, a competitor of AT&T, filed a FOIA request with the FCC seeking documents and records obtained during the course of an investigation from AT&T for overcharging the government during a pilot program.  The sought after records included "responses to interrogatories, invoices, emails with pricing and billing information, names and job descriptions of employees involved, and AT&T's assessment of whether those employee's had violated the company's code of conduct."  Id. at 2.  Some of the sought after information fell under an exemption for trade secrets and commercial or financial information under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4).  However, the FCC refused to withhold the remaining records under the personal privacy exemption, reasoning that businesses do not possess personal privacy interests as required by the exemption. 

Recognizing that the Administrative Procedures Act defines "person" to include corporations, the Court refused to extend this meaning to personal, reasoning that adjectives do not necessarily have to reflect the meaning of the corresponding noun.  The Court cited an example of a chief executive officer approaching a chief financial officer to tell them something personal, opining that we would not assume the CEO was about to discuss company business.  Further, the Court recognized that the phrase "personal privacy" is more than just the sum of its linguistic parts (i.e. privacy of a person) and rather is "a type of privacy evocative of human concerns - not the sort usually associated with [a corporation]."  Moreover, the Court was unable to find any precedent in which a court has referred to a corporation's personal privacy.  Accordingly, the Court held that the protection in FOIA against disclosure of law enforcement information on the ground that it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy does not extend to corporations.  In closing, the Court stated "[w]e trust that AT&T will not take it personally." 

For a full copy of the opinion, click here.