Facebook looks to block disclosure of U.S. privacy assessments

Facebook Inc. 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.

Facebook plans to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to pry open information contained in the privacy reviews, according to a legal filing. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is suing the FTC to make the disclosures under government open-records laws. Facebook told the FTC and EPIC of its plans during an April 9 conference call, according to the filing. The judge gave Facebook until May 3 to file.

As part of a 2011 settlement settling charges that Facebook deceived users when it said they could keep their data private, the company had to submit to privacy assessments every other year for 20 years to document that it had enough controls to protect user data. Facebook hired PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to conduct the reviews. In three reports that the FTC has made public, with dozens of pages blanked out, PwC concluded the privacy program was working.