Privacy Rights Clearinghouse creates complaint center for online privacy issues

In an attempt to create a central online directory for privacy complaints against social networks and websites, a California group launched a service that allows people to share privacy problems with government agencies, lawyers or journalists.

The San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is one of a handful of nonprofit advocacy groups across the country that monitor online privacy issues, and the group says that's part of the problem: There is no centralized easy-to-use place where consumers can file an online complaint about a privacy breach. The effort to create the complaint center began after a 2009 study by UC Berkeley's School of Information and its law school. The "KnowPrivacy" study found that while consumers were not aware of the personal data collection practices used by websites and social networks to track their movements online, they nevertheless wanted more control over their personal information. Consumers also are confused, the study found, about where they can go to make a complaint. The service allows consumers to choose whether to make an anonymous complaint, or whether to share their identity and problem with journalists, lawyers or government enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission or other state and federal consumer protection agencies.

The new complaint tool is a collaborative project with the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley, and was funded by grants from the Rose Foundation and California Consumer Protection Foundation.