Privacy Rights Clearinghouse...helping protect your privacy

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is a "nonprofit consumer information and advocacy organization," helping people stay protected in most aspects of their lives. The site ranges from issues concerning financial privacy and identity theft to Internet privacy. The organization was founded and is still run by Beth Givens and its mission is two-fold: consumer information and consumer privacy. The San Diego-based company was established in 1992 and is predominately grant-supported. The goals of the PRC are:

• Raise consumers' awareness of how technology affects personal privacy.
  
  
• Empower consumers to take action to control their own personal information by providing practical tips on privacy protection.
  
  
• Respond to specific privacy-related complaints from consumers, intercede on their behalf, and, when appropriate, refer them to the proper organizations for further assistance.
  
  
• Document the nature of consumers' complaints and questions about privacy in reports, testimony, and speeches and make them available to policy makers, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and the media.
  
  
• Advocate for consumers' privacy rights in local, state, and federal public policy proceedings, including legislative testimony, regulatory agency hearings, task forces, and study commissions as well as conferences and workshops.

The PRC website offers consumer information regarding just about any privacy issue that could be of concern. The website offers various fact sheets on privacy issues in both English and Spanish. The site is conveniently indexed so that the user can easily search for a specific issue. Of course, as any pioneer for privacy should, PRC has a very extensive privacy policy clearly stated on the website. The best part, I feel, is the "Alerts & New Info" section which shows current privacy-related issues that should be paid special attention to. At this time the newest alert is "Security & Privacy for your Windows Computer" (in PDF). Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is a great site and a great organization that is founded on helping consumers protect themselves from the many privacy risks out there.