Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) has agreed to a $115 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit under California’s wiretapping law. The plaintiffs accused the tech giant of tracking and recording personal information without user consent and selling this data to third parties via its ID Graph service.
The legal battle began in 2022, with a 66-page complaint filed in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs, represented by Lieff Cabraser, alleged that Oracle’s “worldwide surveillance machine” amassed detailed dossiers on approximately five billion individuals. The class representatives included Dr. Johnny Ryan of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Michael Katz-Lacabe of The Center for Human Rights and Privacy, and Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Ryan stated, “Oracle has violated the privacy of billions of people across the globe. This is a Fortune 500 company on a dangerous mission to track where every person in the world goes and what they do. We are taking this action to stop Oracle’s surveillance machine.”
As part of the settlement, Oracle will establish a non-reversionary common fund of $115 million. This means that no portion of the fund will revert to Oracle. The Settlement Administrator will manage this fund in escrow until it is authorized for distribution following court approval.
The lawsuit highlights the absence of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the United States. Consequently, the plaintiffs relied on a combination of federal, constitutional, tort, and state laws to make their case. These included the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, and various common laws.
Previous attempts to address similar issues in Europe also encountered legal hurdles. For instance, a Dutch court ruled a similar suit inadmissible, and the U.K. Supreme Court’s decision in Lloyd v. Google further complicated such class actions.
Oracle last traded at $138.03 on the NYSE.
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