Oracle Agrees to $115 Million Settlement Over Mass Surveillance Data Brokerage

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg granted preliminary approval on August 9, 2024, to a class action settlement requiring Oracle Corporation to pay $115 million and implement changes to its data brokerage practices. The settlement resolves the lawsuit filed in August 2022 alleging that Oracle operated a “worldwide surveillance machine” that violated the privacy of approximately 5 billion people by collecting and selling their personal information without consent.

Under the settlement terms, Oracle must establish a $115 million settlement fund to compensate class members whose privacy was violated through Oracle’s extensive data collection operations. Additionally, Oracle agreed to modify certain business practices related to how it collects, stores, and sells personal information, though the specific operational changes were not fully disclosed in the preliminary approval. The settlement covers internet users in the United States whose personal information was collected, aggregated, and sold by Oracle’s data brokerage operations.

The settlement represents a rare instance of legal accountability for the commercial surveillance industry, though the $115 million payment is modest compared to Oracle’s reported $42 billion in revenue generated from selling personal information. Critics note that the settlement allows Oracle to continue its core data brokerage business model while paying what amounts to a small fraction of the profits generated from unauthorized data collection and sale.

Oracle’s dual role as a major commercial data broker and a top-secret intelligence community contractor creates profound concerns about the intersection of corporate and state surveillance. The same company that settled this lawsuit for mass commercial surveillance also holds CIA cloud contracts and top-secret security clearances, raising questions about potential data flows between Oracle’s commercial surveillance operations and its intelligence community work. The settlement does nothing to address these structural conflicts or prevent Oracle from continuing to build comprehensive dossiers on billions of people.

This case exemplifies the limitations of private litigation in constraining surveillance capitalism. While the $115 million settlement provides some compensation and modest reforms, it leaves intact the fundamental business model that enables corporations like Oracle to profit from unauthorized mass surveillance of the global population. The settlement coincides with Oracle’s expanding role in government surveillance through intelligence contracts, suggesting that privacy violations in the commercial sector may complement rather than conflict with the company’s national security work.