About the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable.

-----U.S. Privacy Protection Study Commission, 1977

---

Select a topic:

Contact Information

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
3108 - 5^th Ave., Suite A
San Diego, CA 92103
Phone: (619) 298-3396
Fax: (619) 298-5681 (The PRC does not accept unsolicited ads.)
Web: http://www.privacyrights.org

Do you have a general privacy-related question?
Use our Online Complaint Center to get a personalized response.

Email Beth Givens, Director
Email Paul Stephens, Director of Policy and Advocacy
Email Amber Yoo, Director of Communications
Email Meghan Bohn, Staff Attorney

For more information about our staff, see below.

Mission and Goals

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) is a nonprofit consumer organization with a two-part mission -- consumer information and consumer advocacy. It was established in 1992 and is based in San Diego, California. It is primarily grant-supported and serves individuals nationwide.

The PRC's goals are to:

• 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, and when appropriate, intercede on their behalf and/or 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.

Services

• A hotline for consumers to report privacy abuses and request information on ways to protect their privacy. Call (619) 298-3396 or contact us here.

• An extensive series of fact sheets on privacy issues, available in English and some in Spanish.
  
  

• A web site (www.privacyrights.org) that provides texts of all fact sheets, transcripts of PRC speeches and testimony, FAQ and index by topic, stories of consumers' experiences, and more.
  
  

• Assistance and interviews for journalists, providing background and comments for stories.
  
  

• A referral service for journalists and policymakers who are seeking victims of privacy abuses who have indicated a willingness to talk with the media and/or testify in legislative and regulatory agency hearings.

• A speakers service, in which PRC staff make presentations at conferences, employee training sessions, and civic and community group meetings.

Staff    

• Beth Givens is founder and director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, established in 1992. She also acts as the PRC's Chief Privacy Officer.  She has developed the Fact Sheet series as author and/or editor. She authored the encyclopedia entries on identity theft for Encyclopedia of Privacy (2007), World Book Encyclopedia (2004) and Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment (2002). She is author of The Privacy Rights Handbook: How to Take Control of Your Personal Information (Avon, 1997) and is co-author of Privacy Piracy: A Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft (1999). She contributed a chapter on consumer and privacy rights to the 2006 book, RFID: Applications, Security and Privacy.

 

Givens represents the interests of consumers in public policy proceedings at the state and federal levels (California Legislature, U.S. Congress, and federal and state regulatory agencies). Her contributions to legislative hearings, regulatory workshops, and public policy conferences are found in the Speeches & Testimony section of the web site.

 

Givens has participated in numerous task forces and commissions including: Consumer Federation of America Identity Theft Services Best Practices Task Force, Consumer Federation of America Cloud Computing Working Group, California Judicial Council Working Group on Personal Information and Court Outsourcing, California Real ID Act Privacy & Security Work Group, California Radio Frequency ID Advisory Committee, California Office of Privacy Protection Advisory Committee, California Secretary of State Voter Privacy Task Force, TRUSTe Wireless Advisory Committee, U.S. Decennial Census Advisory Committee, Justice Management Institute Advisory Committee on Electronic Access to Court Records, California Task Force on Criminal Records Identity Theft, California Legislature's Joint Task Force on Personal Information and Privacy; and the California Judicial Council's Subcommittee on Privacy and Access.

 

She is often interviewed by the media on consumer privacy issues, including: The Willis Report, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, NPR Morning Edition, NPR Talk of the Nation, Marketplace, and major U.S. newspapers.

 

Prior to her work as a consumer advocate, she was a librarian specializing in library network development and resource sharing.

• Paul Stephens is part-time Director of Policy and Advocacy with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. He has been associated with the PRC since 2005. Stephens has extensive experience in public policy, regulatory issues, and legislative matters. He also has considerable specialized expertise in federal rulemaking and adjudicatory proceedings. Stephens has served as advisor to several federal Commissions and councils covering a broad range of regulatory activities. He has developed numerous policy briefing papers and regulatory analyses and made presentations to a variety of civilian and military agencies. Stephens is experienced in legislative affairs, having been responsible for reviewing numerous pieces of proposed legislation.

  Stephens represents the PRC in media interviews facilitating consumer awareness of important privacy issues. He develops PRC consumer educational materials including newsletters, consumer alerts, privacy tips, and fact sheets. He also conducts research in support of PRC's consumer outreach programs. Stephens has had a long time interest in consumer advocacy and privacy issues, and enjoys working to protect consumers' privacy rights.

• Amber Yoo is Director of Communications for Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. She joined the organization in Nov. 2010 shortly after earning her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Florida. Yoo manages the organization’s Web site, social media and community awareness efforts. She also joins other staff in assisting consumers with privacy complaints and questions. She brings with her seven years of experience in nonprofit marketing.

• Meghan Bohn is Staff Attorney for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and joined the organization in March, 2011. She focuses primarily on electronic privacy issues, and worked previously as a legal fellow with PRC's sister organization, New Media Rights, in the area of intellectual property. Meghan researches and writes educational materials; prepares comments for privacy-related regulatory proceedings; represents the PRC in workshops, hearings, and conferences; and monitors privacy law developments. She received her JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, and holds a BA in Journalism and French from the University of Georgia.



• Tena Friery is part-time Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Research Director, with expertise in financial privacy, credit reporting, medical records and HIPAA, employment and volunteer background screening, telecommunications, and debt collection. She has been associated with the PRC since 1999. Prior to joining the PRC, she was a senior financial fraud investigator with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with previous experience involving the Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act in the CFTC's Office of General Counsel. In addition, she has a background as a paralegal.
  
  Friery often represents the PRC in media interviews. She has participated in numerous public policy proceedings and conferences representing consumers' interests. Friery has also authored many Fact Sheets for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse as well as numerous comments filed with state and federal regulatory agencies.

• Mike T. of Werks.net is the System Administrator for Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. He has 15 years of web development experience and has been utilizing and contributing to Drupal since 2001. Drupal, the platform utilized by privacyrights.org, is an open-source website content management platform created by volunteer developers across the world. Mike is passionate about information security, database management and secure hosting platforms.

Advisory Board

• Mari Frank, JD, mediator and privacy consultant
• Robert Gellman, JD, privacy consultant
• Evan Hendricks, Editor / Publisher, Privacy Times
• Susan Henrichsen, retired California Deputy Attorney General
• Pastor Herrera, Jr, former Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs for Los Angeles County
• Marcy E. Peek, JD, Assistant Professor of Law, Whittier Law School
• Cindy Southworth, MSW, National Network to End Domestic Violence

Funders

Recent PRC funding has been provided by the iPod Nano cy pres fund, the Rose Foundation Consumer Privacy Rights Fund, California Consumer Protection Foundation, Roger L. Kohn Fund, and Consumer Federation of America. 

The PRC is an independent program of the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN), a San Diego-based nonprofit membership organization which advocates for consumers' interests in telecommunications, energy, and the Internet. UCAN also supports the PRC.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse was originally established in 1992 with funding from the Telecommunications Education Trust (TET), a program of the California Public Utilities Commission. It was housed at the University of San Diego Center for Public Interest Law (www.cpil.org) from 1992 through 1996, when the TET program expired.

We are grateful to all our supporters. Learn how you can support our work by reading below.

Awards     

• PRC Director Beth Givens was the recipient of the 2010 Consumer Federation of America's Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award.


• PRC Director Beth Givens was the recipient of the 2010 US Privacy Champion Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in honor of Data Privacy Day, January 28, 2010. (http://epic.org/2010/01/epic-honors-us-privacy-advocat.html)


• PRC Director Beth Givens received a 2002 Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org/awards/pioneer.html).

• PRC Director Beth Givens was a year-2000 recipient of the Brandeis Award from Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org).

• The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and its affiliated Identity Theft Resource Center were honored with a year-2000 award from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice (www.justiceawards.com) for their work with identity theft victims.

• The PRC received the 1997 Consumer Action Award for its "outstanding service to consumers." (www.consumer-action.org)

Praise for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

One of the most rewarding aspects of our work is hearing from individuals who we have assisted. Visit our "Praise for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse" page to read consumer feedback.

How to Donate

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse appreciates donations from those who value the information we provide on our web site and when we assist them through replies to our inquiry form or with direct intervention. Your support of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse enables us to continue to educate consumers and advocate for stronger privacy-protection laws, regulations and industry practices.

The PRC is a nonprofit program and your donations are tax-deductible. The parent organization of the PRC, the Utility Consumers' Action Network, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Individuals may donate to the PRC in two ways: By using our online Donate Now feature at https://npo1.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1826 or by printing out our contributions form and sending a check to the address above which also is on the form.

Be assured that 100% of your donation will support the work of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Also, please know that we do not release the names of individual donors to others.

Our organization also accepts Cy Pres funding. If you are interested in speaking with the PRC about a Cy Pres settlement award, please contact PRC Director Beth Givens.