Lawsuit accuses Oracle of facilitating sales of 'billions' of folks' personal data
(2022/08/23)
- Reference: 1661260208
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/08/23/lawsuit_oracle_personal_data/
- Source link:
Oracle is the subject of a class-action suit alleging the software giant created a network containing personal information of hundreds of millions of people and sold the data to third parties.
The case
The ICCL claims Oracle has amassed detailed dossiers on 5 billion people which generates $42.4 billion in annual revenue.
[3]
The allegations appear to be based, in part, on an Oracle presentation from 2016 in which Oracle CTO and founder Larry Ellison described how data was collected so businesses could predict purchasing patterns among consumers.
[4]
[5]
[6]Ellison said at the time [1:15 onward]: "It is a combination of real-time looking at all of their social activity, real-time looking at where they are including, micro-locations – and this is scaring the lawyers [who] are shaking their heads and putting their hands over their eyes – knowing how much time you spend in a specific aisle of a specific store and what is in that aisle of a store. As we collect information about consumers and you combine that with their demographic profile, and their past purchasing behavior, we can do a pretty good job of predicting what they're going to buy next."
The ICCL claims Oracle's dossiers about people include names, home addresses, emails, purchases online and in the real world, physical movements in the real world, income, interests and political views, and a detailed account of online activity.
[7]Lessons to be learned from Google and Oracle's datacenter heatstroke
[8]Solaris is in maintenance mode – but Oracle added a significant feature anyway
[9]HPE says $30m Solaris verdict against it didn't provide 'evidence' of copyright
[10]Oracle staff share news of sizable layoffs
The campaign group went on to allege that one Oracle database included a [11]record of a German man who used a prepaid debit card to place a €10 bet on an esports site . Oracle also coordinates a global trade in dossiers about people through the Oracle Data Marketplace, it claims.
The case has been filed at US District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs aside from Ryan include Mike Katz-Lacabe, director of research at the Center for Human Rights and Privacy, and Jennifer Golbeck, professor at the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies.
[12]
In a statement, Ryan said: "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."
The complaint against Oracle alleges violations of the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Constitution of the State of California, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, competition law, and the common law.
The Register has asked Oracle to comment. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/File-Stamped-2022-08-19-Oracle-Complaint.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/17/johnny_ryan_lawsuit_adtech/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://vimeo.com/741108673
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/22/google_oracle_heatstroke/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/19/oracle_solaris_updated/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/04/hpe_vs_oracle_solaris_patches/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/02/oracle_layoffs/
[11] https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/19/oracle-bluekai-web-tracking/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The case
[1]PDF
is being brought by Johnny Ryan, formerly a policy officer at Brave, maker of the privacy-centric browser, and now part of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), who was behind several [2]challenges to Google, Amazon, and Microsoft's online advertising businesses.The ICCL claims Oracle has amassed detailed dossiers on 5 billion people which generates $42.4 billion in annual revenue.
[3]
The allegations appear to be based, in part, on an Oracle presentation from 2016 in which Oracle CTO and founder Larry Ellison described how data was collected so businesses could predict purchasing patterns among consumers.
[4]
[5]
[6]Ellison said at the time [1:15 onward]: "It is a combination of real-time looking at all of their social activity, real-time looking at where they are including, micro-locations – and this is scaring the lawyers [who] are shaking their heads and putting their hands over their eyes – knowing how much time you spend in a specific aisle of a specific store and what is in that aisle of a store. As we collect information about consumers and you combine that with their demographic profile, and their past purchasing behavior, we can do a pretty good job of predicting what they're going to buy next."
The ICCL claims Oracle's dossiers about people include names, home addresses, emails, purchases online and in the real world, physical movements in the real world, income, interests and political views, and a detailed account of online activity.
[7]Lessons to be learned from Google and Oracle's datacenter heatstroke
[8]Solaris is in maintenance mode – but Oracle added a significant feature anyway
[9]HPE says $30m Solaris verdict against it didn't provide 'evidence' of copyright
[10]Oracle staff share news of sizable layoffs
The campaign group went on to allege that one Oracle database included a [11]record of a German man who used a prepaid debit card to place a €10 bet on an esports site . Oracle also coordinates a global trade in dossiers about people through the Oracle Data Marketplace, it claims.
The case has been filed at US District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs aside from Ryan include Mike Katz-Lacabe, director of research at the Center for Human Rights and Privacy, and Jennifer Golbeck, professor at the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies.
[12]
In a statement, Ryan said: "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."
The complaint against Oracle alleges violations of the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Constitution of the State of California, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, competition law, and the common law.
The Register has asked Oracle to comment. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/File-Stamped-2022-08-19-Oracle-Complaint.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/17/johnny_ryan_lawsuit_adtech/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://vimeo.com/741108673
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/22/google_oracle_heatstroke/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/19/oracle_solaris_updated/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/04/hpe_vs_oracle_solaris_patches/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/02/oracle_layoffs/
[11] https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/19/oracle-bluekai-web-tracking/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwT5mgbTBDhx9Fn4djTHLwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
@AC - It doesn't really matter if they actually can do all that stuff
Anonymous Coward
The essential thing is they managed to convince the digital advertising industry that they can do it. I'd like to present the $42.4 billion in annual revenue as evidence and, at the same time, as reason why they will get away with it.
I second that...
pavel.petrman
as I still remember Ocacle's reported Cloud performance not so many years ago and how well their reported numbers correlated with reality.
JeffRx
Sounds like a great company to keep our health data safe...
Openworld Presentation as evidence?
Anonymous Coward
Larry is famous/notorius for not sticking to script at these presentations. What he said to impress the audience, and what's actually happening, are not necessarily the same.
I admit it!
Eclectic Man
Yes, if I have stayed next to the clotted cream section in a refrigerated isle for a while, wrestling with my conscience, I am also likely to buy scones and strawberry jam.
There, Mr Ellison, you no longer need to track my perambulations around Sainsbury's*.
*Other purveyors of jam, scones and clotted cream are, I believe, available.
I've no doubt Oracle would like to be doing "real time" social monitoring, location tracking and behaviour prediction, but I very much do doubt Oracle are capable of doing that. I'd be genuinely astonished if they're up to anything more nefarious or complicated than a join across Micros and whatever other bags of shit Larry's been buying in the consumer and ad tech spaces.
But the idea of an exadata somewhere running a global-scale population graph and real-time personalisation does, if nothing else, raise a smile.