Oracle has agreed to a USD 115 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit accusing the company of infringing on individuals’ privacy by collecting and selling personal information without their consent.
The preliminary settlement, which was filed in a San Francisco federal court, awaits judicial approval. Oracle has denied any wrongdoing throughout the legal process, according to a Reuters report.
The plaintiffs claimed that Oracle violated federal and state privacy laws, as well as California’s constitution, by compiling unauthorised “digital dossiers” on hundreds of millions of people. These dossiers reportedly included detailed information such as online browsing history, banking locations, shopping and dining habits and credit card usage. Oracle allegedly sold this information directly to marketers or through products like ID Graph, designed to help marketers deliver personalised experiences to consumers.
The settlement applies to individuals whose personal information Oracle collected or sold since 19 August 2018. As part of the agreement, Oracle has pledged to stop gathering user-generated information from URLs of previously visited websites or text entered into online forms, except on Oracle’s own websites.
The named plaintiffs in the lawsuit include privacy rights activist Michael Katz-Lacabe and Jennifer Golbeck, a University of Maryland professor specializing in social media and privacy. The legal firm representing the plaintiffs, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, plans to seek up to USD 28.75 million from the settlement for legal fees.
(Inputs from Reuters)
