Thought Leadership
The US technology company Oracle has agreed to pay 115 million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit for breach of privacy.
The settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, was filed with the federal court in San Francisco on Thursday evening.
According to the plaintiffs, Oracle created unauthorized “digital dossiers” of hundreds of millions of people. These dossiers are said to have contained personal data such as browsing history, banking activities and shopping habits. The company then sold this information to third parties, partly via products such as ID Graph, which helps marketers personalize advertising.
As part of the settlement, the database software and cloud computing company undertakes not to collect any user-generated information from previously visited websites or text entries in online forms outside its own websites in future. The company itself denies any wrongdoing.
The plaintiffs include data protection activist Michael Katz-Lacabe and Professor Jennifer Golbeck from the University of Maryland. They accuse Oracle of violating federal and state laws as well as the California Constitution.
