• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, July 19, 2024

Oracle, which recently said it was shutting down its ad business, has agreed to pay $115 million to settle a class-action privacy complaint over the alleged collection and sale of web users' data.

The deal calls for the settlement fund, minus attorneys' fees, to be distributed to all U.S. residents whose personal information was collected by Oracle, or made available for use or sale through Oracle's ad platforms after August 19, 2018.

Last month, Oracle said during an earnings call that it planned to shut down its ad business, which garnered around $300 million for its most recent financial year. 

If accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg in the Northern District of California, the settlement will resolve a lawsuit filed in 2022 by privacy advocates including Michael Katz-Lacabe of The Center for Human Rights and Privacy, and University of Maryland professor Jennifer Golbeck.

They alleged that Oracle tracks people with a variety of online technologies -- including cookies, device identifiers and widgets -- and combines data about people's web activity with other information purchased from outside brokers.

Katz-Lacabe and Golbeck both said in the complaint that they received documents from Oracle indicating the company had created “electronic profiles” of them by tracking, compiling and analyzing their web browsing and other activity.

Their complaint included a variety of privacy-related claims, including allegations that Oracle violated federal and California wiretap laws.

The settlement comes more than one year after Seeborg narrowed the dispute by dismissing some claims, including ones relating to the federal wiretap law, but rejected Oracle's bid to dismiss the case in its entirety.

Oracle had argued that the privacy advocates were asking a court “to legislate privacy rights from the bench,” and “to manufacture a new legal privacy framework.”

The company also said none of the plaintiffs were injured by the alleged data practices.

The plaintiffs “do not adequately allege they suffered any harm as a result of Oracle’s conduct,” the company wrote.

“And even if they had, any harm allegedly suffered is greatly outweighed by the utility of Oracle’s conduct,” the company added, elaborating that its digital platform “provides tools that ensure consumers receive advertisements tailored to their preferences and interests.”

Seeborg is expected to hold a hearing on the proposed settlement on August 8.