• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 6, 2011

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and seven other privacy groups are objecting to the settlement of a class-action lawsuit stemming from the launch of Buzz. The organizations' main complaint: They aren't slated to receive a share of the $6 million settlement fund.

"The interests of class members would best be served by supporting those organizations that are willing to stand up for the interests of class members," the organizations argue in a written objection filed recently with U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif.

The other groups objecting to the settlement are the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Patient Privacy Rights, Privacy Activism, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, U.S. PIRG, and the World Privacy Forum.

The advocates' objection marks the latest twist in the year-long litigation stemming from Google's launch of the social networking service Buzz on an opt-out basis. The service created social networks out of people's Gmail contacts. At launch, it initially revealed information about the names of users' email contacts, if users activated Buzz without changing the defaults. The result was that people's confidential information -- such as names of their doctors, lawyers or coworkers -- could inadvertently become public.

Google quickly revised the service, but that didn't end the fallout over the matter. Seven Gmail users filed class-action lawsuits, which were consolidated into one action against Google. Last September, the company agreed to resolve the case by paying $6 million to various privacy organizations, and around $2.5 million to the lawyers who brought the case.

At the time, the settlement called for the organizations to be named later. Court records currently show that 12 organizations and schools have been designated as recipients. They include the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation (which would each receive $1 million), Berkeley Law School and Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society ($700,000 each), and the Center for Democracy & Technology ($500,000).

Independent of the civil lawsuit, EPIC filed an FTC complaint about Buzz. The agency last week said it had brought an enforcement action against Google for engaging in deceptive practices with Buzz's launch. Google recently agreed to settle that matter by creating a comprehensive privacy program and also submitting to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.

In addition, Google promised to obtain users' explicit opt-in consent before sharing their information more broadly than its privacy policy allowed at the time of collection.

EPIC argues in court papers that it is especially entitled to a share of the proceeds of the class-action lawsuit because its FTC complaint appears to have resulted in the agency's enforcement action. The group says that it "has done far more to advance the interests of the class than has any other party."