The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on Wednesday sued to stop the implementation of Google's upcoming privacy changes, arguing that they are in violation of a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlement.

EPIC filed a complaint against the FTC in Federal District Court and requested a preliminary injunction against the rules, which are set to go into effect on March 1.

"EPIC alleges that this change in business practice is in clear violation of the consent order that Google entered into on October 13, 2011," the group said in a statement.

That settlement, which arose from complaints (also filed by EPIC) regarding Google's Buzz social network, requires Google to implement privacy safeguards and submit to regular audits. The deal also bans Google from future privacy misrepresentations, requires it to implement a comprehensive privacy program, and calls for regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.

In a statement, Google said "we take privacy very seriously. We're happy to engage in constructive conversations about our updated Privacy Policy but EPIC is wrong on the facts and the law."

The spokesman went on to point out that Google is "not changing how any personal information is shared outside of Google," and stressed that it has informed customers about the update on numerous occassions.

"We've created a world-class privacy compliance program, as we're confident our third-party assessments will demonstrate," he concluded.

At issue is a new, unified privacy policy that consolidated Google's 70 or so privacy policies across its products down to one, and will pull data from users logged in to Google.

Privacy hawks in Congress, as well as privacy groups, however, were concerned with some of the details. Alma Whitten, Google's director of privacy, policy and engineering, for example, mentioned that Google could "provide reminders that you're going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day." As a result, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) said they were worried about users' control over their information.

Google has repeatedly defended the update, arguing that critics are simply spreading "misconceptions." Ultimately Google is "making things simpler and we're trying to be upfront about it. Period," Betsy Masiello, Google policy manager, wrote in a recent blog post.

Last week, however, European regulators stepped into the controversy, asking the search giant to "pause" its update until the EU can conduct an investigation. But Google said "delaying the new policy would cause significant confusion."

For more, see Google's Privacy Policy: A Wakeup Call, But That's It and the slideshow below.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5pm Eastern with comment from Google.