Oracle's 'Surveillance Machine' Targeted In US Privacy Class Action (techcrunch.com) 27
A new privacy class action claim (PDF) in the U.S. alleges Oracle's "worldwide surveillance machine" has amassed detailed dossiers on some five billion people, "accusing the company and its adtech and advertising subsidiaries of violating the privacy of the majority of the people on Earth," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The suit has three class representatives: Dr Johnny Ryan, senior fellow of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL); Michael Katz-Lacabe, director of research at The Center for Human Rights and Privacy; and Dr Jennifer Golbeck, a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland -- who say they are "acting on behalf of worldwide Internet users who have been subject to Oracle's privacy violations." The litigants are represented by the San Francisco-headquartered law firm, Lieff Cabraser, which they note has run significant privacy cases against Big Tech. The key point here is there is no comprehensive federal privacy law in the U.S. -- so the litigation is certainly facing a hostile environment to make a privacy case -- hence the complaint references multiple federal, constitutional, tort and state laws, alleging violations of the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Constitution of the State of California, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, as well as competition law, and the common law.
It remains to be seen whether this "patchwork" approach to a tricky legal environment will prevail -- for an expert snap analysis of the complaint and some key challenges this whole thread is highly recommended. But the substance of the complaint hinges on allegations that Oracle collects vast amounts of data from unwitting Internet users, i.e. without their consent, and uses this surveillance intelligence to profile individuals, further enriching profiles via its data marketplace and threatening people's privacy on a vast scale -- including, per the allegations, by the use of proxies for sensitive data to circumvent privacy controls.
It remains to be seen whether this "patchwork" approach to a tricky legal environment will prevail -- for an expert snap analysis of the complaint and some key challenges this whole thread is highly recommended. But the substance of the complaint hinges on allegations that Oracle collects vast amounts of data from unwitting Internet users, i.e. without their consent, and uses this surveillance intelligence to profile individuals, further enriching profiles via its data marketplace and threatening people's privacy on a vast scale -- including, per the allegations, by the use of proxies for sensitive data to circumvent privacy controls.
I never even heard of this... (Score:4, Interesting)
I never even heard of this before. How exactly does Oracle spy on people? They aren't carrying Oracle phones or going to Oracle search engines.
Do Oracle databases create user profiles and send them back to Oracle HQ?
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Java.
If I use OpenJDK rather than Oracle's, am I safe from this?
Re:I never even heard of this... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: I never even heard of this... (Score:3)
Oracle, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Google all do it. There are no innocents.
Every shop chain today with "are you a member" and "do you want to become a member" questions are involved too.
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Oracle, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Google all do it.
Yes, we know that, heard it a thousand times. Also, the Pope is a Catholic. But let's talk about Oracle at the moment, since this new development concerns them.
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That's the problem - you think it only concerns Oracle, but this is a general issue with all big corporations on the internet - they want to collect as much data as possible even over dead bodies. You can't take them one by one because it will just end up in some elusive shadow corporation solutions.
Burn Them All Down (Score:5, Interesting)
I've never been asked, nor do I consent to any of these companies keeping dossiers on me and my family.
As far as I'm concerned, lets burn them all down and build back better. It hasn't been that long.
It took less than two decades to create this nightmare. It only gets worse from here. This only leads in one direction.
The world has plenty of time to start this over, and do it right.
--
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein
Re: Burn Them All Down (Score:2)
Because it's covertly done.
Resist or Serve (Score:2)
GDPR (Score:5, Interesting)
A cynical person might wonder if the desired outcome of the class action suit is the transfer of money into the law firms' coffers rather than sending $1 to each of the 'five billion' injured parties.
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c) Maybe their long-term goal is to try and get similar laws passed in the USA.
Re: Anti-privacy precedent? (Score:3)
China's privacy laws are actually rather strict, more strict than the US. Didi is under a lot of pressure right now from the Chinese government.
The common critique is that the government gets a free pass because that's basically how their Constitution works but even in America, the government has a number of ways we would expect to have data privacy in a legal sense. Post 911, I think data privacy is none existent between corporations and government inquiries.
VirtualBox... (Score:1)
I use VirtualBox for personal projects, but I've seen some posts cautioning about downloading VirtualBox from a commercial IP. address. Then Oracle reaches out demanding a commercial license [metrixdata360.com]. Oracle is going to get its pound of flesh, no matter what. :(
JoshK.
Re: VirtualBox... (Score:2)
Not sure I'd trust someone who writes "The only real rule when playing around with open source software is that you canâ(TM)t make money off of the software codes" either though
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Indeed. I have read a few articles where an open-source project is used to screw the developer. If any of those companies come calling, "red alert" as to paraphrase from the movie "Wall Street" "...out to capture the buck and don't take no prisoners..."
JoshK.
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VirtualBox, bare, is open source. The add-on pack is PUEL licensed. For personal use, that is just fine. However, if one uses in a company, then it becomes a chargable product.
In Oracle's own words... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:In Oracle's own words... (Score:4, Interesting)
They are saying that they are so good they can tell when you share your Netflix account and disregard the data generated by the non-account owner so as to not pollute the account owner data?
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You're misunderstanding what a purchase is.
The account owner made the purchase. So it works fine if part of that purchase was for another person. Account sharing is no different than any other gift purchase.
So they don't disregard that data. What you're probably confused about is where, in the document you linked, they give an example of your friend using your login from their laptop, and how in most systems that laptop would have to be conflated as your device, and now your entire profiles would be merged.
Opt out from Oracle... (Score:2)