Here's a strange twist to Google's efforts to repair the damage from its awkward initial attempt to launch a social media network. The privacy group that filed a key complaint against Google Buzz with the Federal Trade Commission now protests that it was left out of the $8.5 million common fund class action settlement to which Google has agreed, along with seven other relevant privacy groups.

"None of the objecting organizations were designated to receive funds" in the recommended deal, notes the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The designated court instead gave the majority of money "to organizations that are currently paid by Google to lobby for or to consult for the company, which is the defendant in this matter," the letter complains.

Co-signed, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Patient Privacy Rights, Privacy Activism, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, U.S. PIRG, and the World Privacy Forum.

A particularly strong claim

To recap, on Wednesday the FTC announced that Google would make amends for its ham handed first launch of Buzz. As Google acknowledged, it wasn't a very auspicious start. Gmail users found themselves enrolled in the feature whether they wanted to participate or not. Or they discovered to their dismay that anyone with whom they corresponded via Gmail could access their Google Reader items and comments, include irate ex-husbands.

So Google admitted that the company blew it, withdrew offending components of the application, and pledged to do better this time around.

The proposed resolution includes a cash settlement to a variety of organizations, among them some that received money from the search engine giant in 2010. These include the Berkman Center for Internet and Society ($255,000 in 2010), the Brookings Institution ($150,000), Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Usability, Privacy and Security Lab ($400,000), and the Center for Democracy and Technology ($340,000), according to the document.

Others groups took no funds from Google last year, among them the American Civil Liberties Union, Youth Radio of Oakland, California, and the YMCA of Greater Long Beach. The Electronic Frontier Foundation received $25,359.

But apparently EPIC isn't part of the settlement picture, an omission that it hopes will be reconsidered.

"EPIC has a particularly strong claim that its successful complaint to the Federal Trade Commission regarding the Google Buzz matter has done far more to advance the interests of the [class action group] than has any other party," EPIC et al wrote to the judge handling the case.

The court should not release a settlement "that encourages organizations to stand by quietly while others do the actual work of safeguarding Internet privacy."