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  • Google Cloud and MongoDB Expand Their Partnership

    Google Cloud and MongoDB Expand Their Partnership

    Google Cloud and MongoDB are expanding their partnership in an effort to better support startups.

    Google Cloud is already a popular option among startups and developers. The company is expanding its partnership with MongoDB to provide integrated database and data services.

    As partners, Google Cloud and MongoDB co-engineer streamlined integrations between MongoDB Atlas and many Google Cloud services to make it easier to deploy apps (Dataflow, GKE, Cloud Run), pull in data from other sources (Apigee), run in flexible multi cloud environments (Anthos), easy deployment of MEAN stack, and Terraform and analyze data (BigQuery, Vertex AI).

    Startups will benefit from Google Cloud’s global reach, giving them the ability to expand and scale as needed.

    Signups will also receive significant savings on Google Cloud and Firebase:

    If you’re early in your startup journey and not yet backed with equity funding, you’ll have access to $2,000 of Google Cloud credits. If you are, your first year of Cloud and Firebase usage is covered with credits up to $100,000. Plus, in year two get 20% of Google Cloud and Firebase usage covered, up to an additional $100,000 in credits.

    Similarly, signups will receive free credits for MongoDB:

    Free credits for MongoDB Atlas, including usage of the core Atlas Database, in addition to extended data services for full-text search, data visualization, real-time analytics, building event-driven applications and more to supercharge your data infrastructure

    The expanded partnership looks to be a big win for startups.

  • COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO

    COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO

    “We have seen significant acceleration since the COVID-19 pandemic,” says DocuSign CEO Dan Springer. “A significant portion of that (increase) was due to increased use cases from customers driving that digital transformation faster with services like DocuSign. We don’t see customers going back. Once they’ve got the benefits from that efficiency in their business, the better customer experience, and the better employee experience, they’re going to stay in a digitally transformed world.”

    Dan Springer, CEO of DocuSign, discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and he says that businesses are not going back to a manual world:

    COVID Pandemic Accelerated Digital Transformation

    We’ve been really pleased with the growth we’ve had since going public a few years. We have also seen significant acceleration since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s obviously a horrible pandemic and our number one priority has been the health and wellbeing of our employees so we can take good care of our customers. As you can see in our Q1 earnings we did see an acceleration of our bookings to 59 percent.

    Traditionally, if you look at the billings-type metric they have been in the mid-30s’. A significant portion of that (increase) was due to increased use cases from customers driving that digital transformation faster with services like DocuSign.

    Companies To Stay In This Digitally Transformed World

    One of the things we’ve seen with the pandemic impact is that it has really accelerated the path that companies were already on to drive that digital transformation. We don’t see companies after the pandemic settles down going back and saying they want more paper and more manual processes.

    Once they’ve got the benefits from that efficiency in their business, the better customer experience, and the better employee experience, they’re going to stay in a digitally transformed world. They are going to use DocuSign and other fantastic services to do that.

    The Future Is Going To Have eSignature At The Center

    We really think that the future is going to have eSignature at the center of what we call the overall Agreement Cloud. Companies want to be more agreeable. They want to be easier to do business with and be easier to do business for. They’re going to not just use DocuSign for signature but all of the other components of preparing agreements and managing those agreements digitally once they’ve been created. That’s why we’re excited about our very robust future.

    We just past a billion dollars in revenue (for DocuSign eSignature). We are only four percent penetrated today and we’re six times larger than the next biggest player in the space. There’s not a lot of penetration yet in that core business. Notary is still predominantly done manually. We are making investments there. We believe we can bring the same ease of use that we brought to eSignature we can bring to notary.

    AI To Power The DocuSign Agreement Cloud

    Much bigger than that, even expanding upon the opportunity of eSignature is that broader Agreement Cloud opportunity. We think this is the next big cloud opportunity. You are going to see companies increasingly say I don’t just want to do the workflow and signature. I also want to drive the creations of those agreements. I want to think about artificial intelligence and search capability to manage my agreements. This would enable me to actually manage my business and make my company more agreeable.

    Those are some of the investments we’re making. That’s why we just finished the acquisition of Seal Software last month so we can bring additional artificial intelligence and analytic capability to help people run their businesses better.

    COVID Accelerated Digital Transformation, Says DocuSign CEO Dan Springer
  • Microsoft CEO Bullish on Asian Data Center Market

    Microsoft CEO Bullish on Asian Data Center Market

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is bullish on the Asian data center market, including China and India, at a time when trade tensions are ramping up.

    Microsoft operates the second-largest cloud platform and, as such, operates data centers around the world. As one of the world’s largest growth markets, Asia represents tremendous opportunity for the company.

    “Absolutely. We’re very, very bullish about what’s happening in Asia,” Satya Nadella, said in an interview with CNBC’s Tanvir Gill.

    Nadella singled out two countries as especially important to the company’s future: China and India.

    “We’re absolutely committed to all of these countries and in China too,” Nadella said. “Today, we primarily work to support multinational companies that operate in China and multinational companies out of China.”

    Similarly, while India is important to the company’s future, Microsoft sees significant changes to the market.

    “Microsoft’s presence in India was about mostly multinational companies operating in India. But for now, it’s completely changed,” he said.

    “It’s the reverse where these companies who are innovating in India, whether it’s the big large conglomerates, or the new startups, are all using [artificial intelligence] cloud technology to be able to innovate and create services that are obviously popular in India and elsewhere,” he added.

    In all, Nadella said Microsoft plans on investing in at least 11 different regions.

  • Meta Fined $277 Million for Failing to Prevent Data Scraping

    Meta Fined $277 Million for Failing to Prevent Data Scraping

    Ireland is once again slapping Meta with a hefty fine, this time to the tune of $277 million for failing to protect user data from scraping.

    Data scraping is the process of using automated methods and scripts to collect data from a website. The data may be publicly available or require access. News of the scraping breach first broke in early 2021, although the actual incident occurred prior to 2020. In all, some 533,000,000 Facebook accounts were impacted.

    Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has now levied the third-largest fine against Meta, saying the company did not do enough to protect its users’ data and prevent personal information, phone numbers, email addresses, and more from being scraped.

    According to Independent.ie, some 1.3 million Irish Facebook accounts were impacted. Some of the impacted accounts included “gardai, sitting judges, prison officers, social workers, journalists and others.” The breach also coincides with a spike in scam attempts across the EU and Ireland.

    “The material issues in this inquiry concerned questions of compliance with the GDPR obligation for data protection by design and default,” the DPC said in a statement. “The DPC examined the implementation of technical and organisational measures pursuant to Article 25 [of] GDPR.”

    The investigation was evidently started last year, after news of the breach.

    “The DPC commenced this inquiry on 14 April 2021, on foot of media reports into the discovery of a collated dataset of Facebook personal data that had been made available on the internet,” the DPC statement said.

    “The scope of the inquiry concerned an examination and assessment of Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer tools in relation to processing carried out by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited during the period between 25 May 2018 and September 2019.”

    To make matters worse, Facebook apparently is not interested in accepting full responsibility for the incident or fully committing to preventing such incidents in the future. In fact, as we previously covered at WPN, Facebook accidentally sent a memo to a journalist in which the company complained about the negative coverage it was receiving over the breach.

    In the memo, the company also outlined its goals moving forward, including efforts to “normalize the fact that this activity happens regularly.”

    Thankfully, Ireland’s DPC doesn’t believe data scrapping should be accepted as ‘normal’ and is holding Meta’s feet to the fire.

  • Half of Small Computer Repair Shops Access Private Data

    Half of Small Computer Repair Shops Access Private Data

    In a report that surprises no one, half of of small computer shops access customers’ private data, with some copying and saving it.

    Small computer repair shops may be a common site, but a new report indicates customers should be wary before taking their computers to them. Researchers at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada took laptops to 12 repair shops. The laptops were fully functional, except for a disabled audio driver. The researchers specifically chose that issue, since it is easy to diagnose and repair, and does not require access to personal files.

    The researchers populated the computers with what appeared to be personal information, online accounts, a crypto wallet, and a variety of sexual and non-sexual pictures. The researchers also made it appear that half the computers belonged to men and half to women.

    In 50% of cases, the researchers found that personal files were accessed by the repair shop, although unsurprisingly the computers that seemed to be belong to women were much more likely to have their data accessed. In at least two cases, one for a male customer and one for a female, data was copied and saved onto personal devices.

    “We were blown away by the results,” Hassan Khan, one of the researchers, said in an interview with Ars Technica. The researchers were especially concerned with the data copying.

    “We thought they would just look at [the data] at most,” Khan added.

    With few if any real privacy safeguards in place, most customers would do well to take their computers to reputable large companies, at least until small shops get with the program, in terms of privacy.

  • Apple Faces Class Action Suit Over Data Collection Despite Settings

    Apple Faces Class Action Suit Over Data Collection Despite Settings

    Apple is in the hot seat following reports it ignores its own privacy settings and collects a massive amount of user data.

    Google and Meta are usually the ones in the news for collecting large quantities of user data without permission. Apple is the latest company facing those allegations following a Gizmodo report citing researchers’ claims that Apple’s own apps collect user data, even when the iPhone Analytics setting is turned off.

    According to the report, when iPhone Analytics is turned off, Apple promises it will “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether.” Unfortunately, Apple appears to do the exact opposite, collecting data from the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, and Stocks. What’s more, there is simply no privacy setting that turns off the mass collection of data.

    Read more: Apple’s Privacy Hypocrisy: The $15 Billion Google Deal

    “The level of detail is shocking for a company like Apple,” researcher Tommy Mysk told Gizmodo.

    Gizmodo outlines exactly what information the App Store is collecting:

    The App Store appeared to harvest information about every single thing you did in real time, including what you tapped on, which apps you search for, what ads you saw, and how long you looked at a given app and how you found it. The app sent details about you and your device as well, including ID numbers, what kind of phone you’re using, your screen resolution, your keyboard languages, how you’re connected to the internet—notably, the kind of information commonly used for device fingerprinting.

    Again, it’s important to note that absolutely no setting or preference inhibits Apple’s data collection.

    See also: Apple is the Biggest Beneficiary of Its Privacy Crackdown

    The response has been — understandably — swift and severe, with Apple facing a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in California, citing a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. Not surprisingly, the lawsuit points out Apple’s claims to respect user privacy, a point it has built much of its marketing around.

    “Privacy is one of the main issues that Apple uses to set its products apart from competitors,” said plaintiff Elliot Libman, available on Bloomberg Law. “But Apple’s privacy guarantees are completely illusory.”

    Cracks have been showing in Apple’s facade of respecting user privacy, but this may be the most damning evidence yet that the company may not be as different from its rivals as it likes to claim.

  • Oracle Has a ‘Cloud-First’ Problem As Rivals Threaten Its Database Dominance

    Oracle Has a ‘Cloud-First’ Problem As Rivals Threaten Its Database Dominance

    Oracle may be the undisputed king of the database market, but cloud-first rivals are threatening that dominance with cheaper, more flexible options.

    Oracle has long been the dominant player in the database market. Even as the cloud has grown in importance, Oracle has managed to carve out a meaningful share of the market, thanks in large part to the strength of its database platform. Many customers see it as a full turn-key solution, combining the cloud and database solutions necessary. In spite of that, according to a report by Bloomberg, Oracle’s database dominance may be under threat from cloud-first rivals.

    Bloomberg cites the example of Shutterfly, which recently made the decision to move its database to the cloud. Despite relying on Oracle for years, the company decided to go in a different direction with the transition.

    Read more: Larry Ellison Touts Oracle Cloud’s Reliability in Wake of AWS Outage

    “The amount of time and energy that was consumed purely running just the plumbing was immense,” Chief Technology Officer Moudy Elbayadi said in an interview. A review of the existing options on the market led Shutterfly to conclude that Oracle’s solutions didn’t “fit our desires to have that level of openness and flexibility,” Elbayadi added.

    Unfortunately for Oracle, Shutterfly isn’t an isolated example. JPMorgan, Nasdaq Inc, JetBlue Airways Corp, and Automatic Data Process Inc are among the list of companies transitioning to non-Oracle options.

    “We have actually quite rapidly been reducing our Oracle footprint,” said Nikolai Larbalestier, Nasdaq’s senior vice president of cloud strategy and enterprise architecture. “There are plenty of good alternatives today.”

    Part of the problem stems from the complexity involved in running Oracle’s database and the cost to the client company of doing so. Mythical Games CEO John Linden emphasized the issue, despite his firm being valued at $1.2 billion.

    “Oracle hits us up every week,” he said. But “we’d have to have a massive team in place to run it appropriately.”

    See also: Google, Microsoft, and Oracle Had the Most Vulnerabilities in Early 2021

    Just as significant, Oracle’s tools seem to be developing a reputation for not being up to par with the latest developments, making the prospect of working with them unappealing to many developers.

    “I can’t even hire people if I told them that we majorly use Oracle,” Yao Morin, chief data officer at JLL Technologies, told Bloomberg. “People are yearning for better tools.”

    To be clear, Oracle is still the company to beat in the database market, especially among companies that want on-premise database solutions. Nonetheless, the company clearly has some significant areas it needs to improve on if it wants to remain relevant in the coming years. Otherwise, it may find itself in the same situation as IBM when personal computers replaced mainframes — the undisputed leader of a niche market.

  • IBM Launches Business Analytics Enterprise to Tackle Data Silos

    IBM Launches Business Analytics Enterprise to Tackle Data Silos

    IBM has launched a new suite of business tools designed to help companies break down information silos and better utilize data.

    Data has become the new currency, with companies collecting and analyzing data to better meet the needs of their customers. IBM cites data from Forrester proving that “advanced insights-driven organizations are 1.6x more likely to report using data, analytics, and insights to create experiences, products, and services that differentiate them within the market when compared to beginners.”

    IBM’s latest solution is designed to help companies gain those insights and put them in the hands of the decision makers. Business Analytics Enterprise has a suite of included tools and products to aid companies, including a new IBM Analytics Content Hub. The suite also includes IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson, IBM Planning Analytics with Watson, and other business intelligence tools.

    “Businesses today are trying to become more data-driven than ever as they navigate the unexpected in the face of supply chain disruptions, labor and skills shortages and regulatory changes,” said Dinesh Nirmal, General Manager of Data, AI and Automation, IBM. “But to truly be data-driven, organizations need to be able to provide their different teams with more comprehensive access to analytics tools and a more complete picture of their business data, without jeopardizing their compliance, security or privacy programs. IBM Business Analytics Enterprise offers a way to bring together analytics tools in a single view, regardless of which vendor it comes from or where the data resides.”

  • Toyota Leaves Access Key on GitHub Exposing Customer Data

    Toyota Leaves Access Key on GitHub Exposing Customer Data

    Toyota is the latest company to experience a major security breach, leaving an important access key on GitHub for five years.

    According to BleepingComputer, source code for Toyota’s T-Connect software was left online for roughly five years. T-Connect allows users to connect their smartphone with their cars. The feature integrates phone calls, navigation, notifications, music, and vehicles status information.

    Unfortunately, the source code also contained an access key to the server storing customer data, including both email addresses and management numbers. Fortunately, Toyota says customer names, phone numbers, and credit card information were not stored in the same database and remain secure.

    The company also claims there is no evidence anyone accessed the data that was stored in the compromised server, but cannot be sure.

    “As a result of an investigation by security experts, although we cannot confirm access by a third party based on the access history of the data server where the customer’s email address and customer management number are stored, at the same time, we cannot completely deny it,” explains the company, machine translated by BleepingComputer.

  • LA School Systems Refuses to Pay Ransom, Hackers Release Data

    LA School Systems Refuses to Pay Ransom, Hackers Release Data

    Hackers followed through on their threats, releasing private information after the LA School system refused to pay a ransom.

    A hacker group called the Vice Society successfully carried out a ransomware attack against the LA School system. The group encrypted the school’s systems and accessed private data. According to The Seattle Times, Vice Society has released some of the private information it gained access to after Superintendent Albert Carvalho shot down any thought of negotiating with the hackers.

    “What I can tell you is that the demand — any demand — would be absurd,” Carvalho told the Times. “But this level of demand was, quite frankly, insulting. And we’re not about to enter into negotiations with that type of entity.”

    Some screenshots of the leaked data included Social Security numbers, but it’s still unclear how extensive the data is.

  • Report: 1 in 2 Android Apps Share User Data With Third Parties

    Report: 1 in 2 Android Apps Share User Data With Third Parties

    Android apps continue to be a privacy nightmare, with 1 in 2 apps on the Google Play Store sharing user data with third parties.

    Google has been under increasing pressure to improve Android apps’ privacy, primarily in response to Apple’s App Track Transparency. Google introduced its own “Data safety” feature in October 2021, requiring developers to use it as of late July 2022. Data safety lets people know how developers use the data they collect.

    Now that developers are required to disclose their data practices, Incogni looked at 1,000 apps on the Play Store to see how data was being used. The findings were disturbing, with 55.2% sharing user data with third parties. Some of the big-name apps were the biggest perpetrators, despite claiming to collect the least amount of data.

    See also: App Permissions Info Is Coming Back to the Google Play Store

    Incogni also found a major disparity between free and paid apps, with free apps sharing seven times as much data as their paid counterparts. The same was true for popular apps, which shared 6.15 times more data than less popular ones.

    To absolutely no one’s surprise, social media apps collected the most data or 19.18 data points. Shopping apps were the worst for data sharing, coming in at 5.72 data points.

    Perhaps most concerning is the fact that 13.4% of apps share user location data, easily one of the most sensitive data points, with third parties.

    Incogni also pointed out a major flaw in Google’s system, namely that it runs on the “honor system.” In other words, developers are trusted to be honest and transparent about what their apps are and are not collecting and sharing.

    Incogni highlighted some of the biggest dangers related to their findings:

    Many apps share and even sell your data to third parties such as marketing agencies, data brokers, and other businesses. Worse yet is that more than half of these apps might not be encrypting your data in transit, making the data highly susceptible to attackers if communications are intercepted.

    Even transferring anonymous data – which is not considered “sharing” – can be ultimately harmful as it can be easily re-identified.

    The risks involved in the proliferation of your personal information can be quite serious. Data sharing exposes users to dangers such as data breaches, identity theft, stalking, and online harassment. Many internet users can also find themselves victims of digital redlining, a phenomenon that is similar to profiling and discrimination in the real world.

  • Morgan Stanley to Pay $35M Fine for Exposing 15M Customer Records

    Morgan Stanley to Pay $35M Fine for Exposing 15M Customer Records

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a deal with Morgan Stanley over the latter’s failure to protect customer data.

    According to the SEC, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) failed to properly dispose of hard drives containing customer data over a five-year period. Instead, the firm relied on an outside company that was ill-qualified to destroy and decommission thousands of hard drives for the firm, putting the data of 15 million customers at risk.

    To make matters worse, some of the hard drives found their way onto an internet auction site still containing customers’ personal information. MSSB was able to recover some of the drives, but the vast majority were never recovered.

    MSSB also failed to use various security measures that were available. For example, many of the drives had encryption capability built in, but the firm had not activated it, leaving the data unprotected.

    As a result of its failings, the SEC has charged MSSB a $35 million penalty, which the firm has agreed to pay.

    “MSSB’s failures in this case are astonishing. Customers entrust their personal information to financial professionals with the understanding and expectation that it will be protected, and MSSB fell woefully short in doing so,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “If not properly safeguarded, this sensitive information can end up in the wrong hands and have disastrous consequences for investors. Today’s action sends a clear message to financial institutions that they must take seriously their obligation to safeguard such data.”

  • Uber Says No ‘Sensitive User Data’ Accessed in Breach

    Uber Says No ‘Sensitive User Data’ Accessed in Breach

    In the wake of reports its systems were breached, Uber is reassuring users no “sensitive user data” was accessed.

    Uber acknowledged Thursday it was investigating reports of a data breach after a hacker posted a message on the company’s Slack channel saying they had hacked the company. Screenshots of the breach were shared on Twitter:

    The company now says no “sensitive user data” was accessed and that its systems are coming back online:

    While our investigation and response efforts are ongoing, here is a further update on yesterday’s incident:

    – We have no evidence that the incident involved access to sensitive user data (like trip history).

    – All of our services including Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight, and the Uber Driver app are operational.

    – As we shared yesterday, we have notified law enforcement.

    – Internal software tools that we took down as a precaution yesterday are coming back online this morning.

  • Oracle Brings MySQL HeatWave to AWS

    Oracle Brings MySQL HeatWave to AWS

    Oracle has brought its MySQL HeatWave to AWS in an effort to help customers keep costs down and benefit from Oracle’s services.

    MySQL HeatWave is billed as “the only service that combines OLTP, analytics, machine learning, and machine learning-based automation within a single MySQL database.” Oracle found many of its customers came from AWS, or are running a multi-cloud setup and want to keep costs down.

    “Oracle believes in giving customers a choice. Many of our MySQL HeatWave customers migrated from AWS. Others wish to continue running parts of their application on AWS. Those customers face serious challenges including exorbitant data egress fees charged by AWS and higher latency when accessing a database service running in Oracle’s cloud,” said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect, Oracle. “We are addressing these issues while delivering outstanding performance and price performance across transaction, analytics, and machine learning compared to other database cloud providers—even Amazon’s own databases running on AWS, where you’d think they would have an advantage. We wanted to offer AWS customers this choice to benefit from MySQL HeatWave innovation without moving their data from AWS, or developers needing to learn a new platform.”

    Oracle is positioning MySQL HeatWave as a multi-cloud option, with support for OCI and AWS, as well as plans to support Microsoft Azure in the near future. Oracle also provides the service for on-premise customers via Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer.

    “While AWS offers a smorgasbord of cloud database services specialized for each data type and capability, MySQL HeatWave on AWS follows Oracle’s converged database strategy—offering transaction, analytics, ML, and Autopilot automation all in one. For AWS users, this means no charges for add-on services, extra storage, data egress fees, connectors, and more. For cost conscious IT teams and developers, MySQL HeatWave on AWS represents a whole new TCO calculation with zero cost for what are add-on services on AWS and no data egress fees,” said Marc Staimer, senior analyst, Wikibon. “And just as Usain Bolt left all of his competitors in the dust and set new world records that have yet to be broken, the latest price performance benchmark results demonstrate that MySQL HeatWave on AWS is 7X better than Amazon Redshift. If you follow the money, the choice is easy.”

  • Google Tops Big Tech Data Tracking With 39 Types of Private Data

    Google Tops Big Tech Data Tracking With 39 Types of Private Data

    Google is the most invasive of Big Tech companies, tracking 39 different private user data points, more than any of its peers.

    StockApps.com conducted an analysis of what data Google, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook collect. Of the companies analyzed, Google was the most invasive, tracking 39 different points of private user data. Apple was the least invasive, only tracking 12 data points “necessary to maintain users’ accounts.”

    Twitter collected the second-highest number of data points at 24, while Amazon came in at 23. Surprisingly, Facebook only tracked 14 data points.

    “Twitter and Facebook both save more information than they need to,” writes Edith Reads for StockApps.com. “However, with Facebook, most of the data they store is information users enter.”

    One of the biggest challenges for users interested in limiting Big Tech’s data tracking is the difficulty in understanding the long and complicated privacy policies most companies utilize.

    “Most people do not have the time or patience to read privacy policies that can be several pages long for each website they visit,” says Reads. “Also, it is quite unlikely that all users have a background in law to properly grasp the privacy policy. Besides, users lack time, patience, or energy to try to figure out what information websites are storing and how they are using it to their advantage. As a result, users end up allowing Google to harvest all the data they need by agreeing to the privacy policy terms. “

  • Oracle Faces Class Action Suit Over Its ‘Mass Surveillance’

    Oracle Faces Class Action Suit Over Its ‘Mass Surveillance’

    Oracle is facing a class action lawsuit over what is being described as its “mass surveillance” of the general public.

    Oracle is the world’s leading database provider and a popular cloud provider. The company is accused (PDF) of using its position and platforms to collect real-time data on hundreds of millions of users and selling it. The lawsuit alleges the data is being collected on the general public, including individuals who have no direct relationship with Oracle nor any ability to consent or object to the data collection.

    This complaint sets forth how the regularly conducted business practices of defendant Oracle America, Inc. (“Oracle”) amount to a deliberate and purposeful surveillance of the general population via their digital and online existence. In the course of functioning as a worldwide data broker, Oracle has created a network that tracks in real-time and records indefinitely the personal information of hundreds of millions of people. Oracle sells this detailed personal information to third parties, either directly, or through its “ID Graph” and other related products and services derived from this data. The proposed Classes herein lack a direct relationship with Oracle and have no reasonable or practical basis upon which they could legally consent to Oracle’s surveillance.

    The plaintiffs consist of Dr. Johnny Ryan, a Senior Fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and a Senior Fellow at the Open Markets Institute; Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, an associate professor at the University of Maryland in College Park and Director of the Social Intelligence Lab; and Michael Katz-Lacabe, a privacy rights activist.

    The plaintiffs make the case that company founder Larry Ellison set out to establish Oracle as a surveillance powerhouse.

    According to Ellison, the purpose of Oracle ID Graph is to predict and influence the future behavior of billions of people. He explained Oracle could achieve this goal by looking at social activity and locations in real time, including “micro location[s].” For example, Ellison has represented that companies will be able to know how much time someone spends in a specific aisle of a specific store and what is in the aisle of the store. “By collecting this data and marrying it to things like micro location information, Internet users’ search histories, websites visits and product comparisons along with their demographic data, and past purchase data, Oracle will be able to predict purchase intent better than anyone.”

    It’s unclear how successful the lawsuit will be. The US notoriously has no comprehensive privacy legislation, making any such lawsuit an uphill battle. At the same time, the lawsuit was filed in California, one of the few states in the US that does have privacy legislation.

    If the plaintiffs are successful, it could have profound repercussions for the US data broker industry, an industry that is already under scrutiny from privacy-minded lawmakers.

  • FTC Targets ‘Corporate Surveillance’ and ‘Data Security’

    FTC Targets ‘Corporate Surveillance’ and ‘Data Security’

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is targeting “corporate surveillance,” wherein companies profit from the data they collect on consumers.

    Corporate surveillance has become a growing problem, with companies collecting vast quantities of consumer data — often without the individual knowing — and then sharing or selling the data to data brokers and other entities. Obviously, the more data is collected, the more vulnerable individuals become to online threats, identify theft, and more, as the FTC makes clear.

    Commercial surveillance is the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people. Technologies essential to everyday life also enable near constant surveillance of people’s private lives. The volume of data collected exposes people to identity thieves and hackers. Mass surveillance has heightened the risks and stakes of errors, deception, manipulation, and other abuses.

    In response, the FTC is investigating whether new rules are needed and soliciting public feedback on the matter.

    The Federal Trade Commission is asking the public to weigh in on whether new rules are needed to protect people’s privacy and information in the commercial surveillance economy.

    Consumer and privacy rights groups have long called for the US to crack down on data brokers and other shady data collection practices. Even corporate executives have called for the US to take action and roll out comprehensive privacy laws.

    The FTC’s public inquiry may be the first step toward US consumers finally being protected from predatory corporate surveillance.

  • Oracle Begins Audit of TikTok’s Algorithms for Beijing’s Influence

    Oracle Begins Audit of TikTok’s Algorithms for Beijing’s Influence

    TikTok is pulling out all the stops to prove it is independent of Beijing’s influence, turning to Oracle to audit its algorithms.

    TikTok has been under scrutiny for years over its data and privacy practices, with the Trump administration trying to ban the app. Experts are concerned about the wealth of data the app has access to, and how much of that data is available to Chinese authorities.

    The company’s executives even swore before Congress that Americans’ data was handled by an American team, only for it to be revealed that the data actually was handled by their colleagues in China.

    Read more: Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Following new cries to ban the app, TikTok is going to great lengths to prove it can be trusted. According to Axios, that includes having Oracle audit the platform’s algorithms to prove how its data is being handled. The company has begun routing its US user data through Oracle’s servers as part of Project Texas, a reference to Oracle’s Texas-based headquarters.

    A spokesperson told Axios that the review process began last week and that Oracle will engage in “regular vetting and validation” of TikTok’s moderation and recommendation models. The reviews will also reveal how the platform’s algorithms recommend content “to ensure that outcomes are in line with expectations and that the models have not been manipulated in any way.”

    It’s an unusual step for a company or platform to open up its most secret code to another company for review. It likely helps that Oracle was in talks to buy TikTok when it was under threat of ban.

    Only time will tell if these measures are enough to reassure US lawmakers and if the company can finally deliver on the privacy promises it has made.

  • Oracle Layoffs Lead to ‘Complete Chaos’

    Oracle Layoffs Lead to ‘Complete Chaos’

    Oracle’s layoffs have hit its marketing and customer experience (CX) divisions, causing chaos within the company.

    News broke in early August that Oracle planned to lay off thousands of employees in the US, Canada, Europe, and India. According to Business Insider, the layoffs have begun, hitting the marketing and CX departments especially hard. Insider’s sources say it’s “complete chaos” within the company, with those left wondering if they’ll be next.

    “The people who have left are breathing a sigh of relief,” said a marketing employee who was laid off. “And the people who are still here are definitely running for the hills.”

    Marketing teams have reportedly been cut by 30 to 50%.

    “There’s no marketing anymore,” a senior marketing leader who was laid off on Monday told Insider. “We’re not even supposed to say we’re in marketing because there is no marketing division.”

    While Insider could not get exact numbers, one person told the outlet that Advertising and Customer Experience (ACX) had suffered up to an 80% reduction.

    “The common verb to describe ACX is that they were obliterated,” said a person inside Oracle.

    Oracle has been working to expand its cloud business, taking on its larger rivals and scoring significant victories along the way. It’s unclear how the layoffs will impact its long-term plans, but they will certainly not help morale at the company and could impact its ability to attract new talent.

  • Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    Sometimes legal letters can be an interesting read! Elon Musk’s cancellation letter to Twitter by his legal team may be a crushing blow to Twitter’s business, not just this deal.

    Musk’s ending of his acquisition of Twitter is centered on the company’s mDAU as reported in their SEC filings… and that is key. If Musk can prove that Twitter misrepresented investors in their official filings with the SEC then not only is Musk off the hook for any end-of-deal damages but Twitter could be subject to a not-so-friendly SEC investigation.

    For its part, Twitter continues to stand by its claim that less than 5% of monetizable daily active users are spam or bots and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the deal.

    “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” tweeted Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor.

    Elon Musk says in his filing that it appears that Twitter is dramatically understating the proportion of spam and false accounts represented in its mDAUcount:

    “Preliminary analysis by Mr. Musk’s advisors of the information provided by Twitter to date causes Mr. Musk to strongly believe that the proportion of false and spam accounts included in the reported mDAU count is wildly higher than 5%,”

    The letter purports that Musk’s acquisition team was not provided the key data that they requested and not in a usable format for them to further assess whether the fake accounts included in their mDAU stat is in fact lower than 5% as claimed by Twitter in all of its SEC filings. The mDAU stat is key to predicting the success of Twitter since 95% of its revenue comes from advertisers and fake people don’t convert to purchases.

    Another key aspect of the filing is Musk’s assertion that his team didn’t receive all of the Board materials they requested related to the Board members conversations about the mDAU metric and their calculation of the number of spam and false accounts.

    Why is this key? If Musk can show that Board members themselves had concerns about the accuracy of the “less than 5% mDAU are fake” metric then Musk doesn’t have to prove the stat is wrong, he can just point to Board statements. Musk did not provide any evidence that the Board in fact did discuss this issue substantively, but one assumes that because this stat is key to their business and their stock price, it’s likely they did to some extent. What was said in these possible discussions is key.

    Additionally, anything said by Board members or staff that counters the “less than 5% mDAU are fake” guidance by Twitter in SEC filings and in public statements would be evidence for any future SEC filings.

    581832232-Musk-SEC-Twitter-LetterDownload
  • Google Takes Aim at AWS With AlloyDB for PostgreSQL

    Google Takes Aim at AWS With AlloyDB for PostgreSQL

    Google has unveiled AlloyDB for PostgreSQL and taken aim at industry leader AWS and its Aurora PostgreSQL service.

    PostreSQL is an advanced database that offers many advantages over other options, including object support, security, concurrency, and performance. As such, it is often the preferred choice for enterprise and mission-critical applications. Google is now offering a “preview of AlloyDB for PostgreSQL, a fully-managed, PostgreSQL-compatible database service.”

    According to Andi Gutmans, Google Cloud GM and VP of Engineering for Databases, AlloyDB is 4X faster than traditional PostgreSQL for transactional workloads, and up to 100 times faster at analytical queries. Gutmans says AlloyDB is twice as fast at transactional workloads than Amazon’s Aurora PosgreSQL service.

    “AlloyDB is the next major milestone in our journey to support customers’ heterogeneous migrations,” Gutmans writes. “For example, we recently added Oracle-to-PostgreSQL schema conversion and data replication capabilities to our Database Migration Service, while our new Database Migration Program helps you accelerate your move to the cloud with tooling and incentive funding.”

    AlloyDB’s core “is an intelligent, database-optimized storage service built specifically for PostgreSQL.” The service uses the same building blocks that Google uses for its own services, disaggregating compute and storage. The service also includes embed AI/ML, along with automatic data tiering.

    Google’s customers already seem pleased with the performance gains they’re experiencing from AlloyDB.

    “We have been so delighted to try out the new AlloyDB for PostgreSQL service. With AlloyDB, we have significantly increased throughput, with no application changes to our PostgreSQL workloads. And since it’s a managed service, our teams can spend less time on database operations, and more time on value added tasks.”—Sofian Hadiwijaya, CTO and Co-Founder, Warung Pintar

    Google is currently in third place in the cloud market, but services like this could help it make up significant ground.

    Customers can try out AlloyDB for PostgreSQL here.