Fortune Quotes Partner Alysa Hutnik on Facebook Privacy Lawsuit
Partner Alysa Hutnik was quoted in the Fortune article, “Facebook Files Lawsuit to Stop the Release of Reports About Its Privacy Practices.” Facebook has stated it will seek to block disclosures from years’ worth of privacy reports it submitted to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, according to filings in a lawsuit seeking the release of information in the documents. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is suing the FTC to pry open information contained in the privacy reviews, according to a legal filing.
In light of the recent privacy and data scandals Facebook has gone through, it was required to submit to privacy assessments every other year for 20 years to document that it had enough controls to protect user data. Three of those reports have been made public, but contain heavy redactions about the company’s privacy measures and results of tests carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company hired by Facebook to conduct the reviews.
“It’s not always easy to say whether an agency should treat business information as confidential, particularly with respect to privacy protections, which some tech companies now view as part of their competitive value,” said Alysa in reference to the lawsuit, continuing that “Facebook may seek to postpone the case because a dispute over similar issues is headed to the Supreme Court.”
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