ICYMI: Oracle, Salesforce Hit With Privacy Lawsuit In Europe

American software companies Oracle ORCL and Salesforce CRM are being sued over an alleged breach of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation laws.

What Happened: The Privacy Collective, filed a class-action lawsuit against Oracle and Salesforce Friday in an Amsterdam court. The Privacy Collective is a European non-profit focused on claiming compensation through class-action suits, for wrongful use of individuals personal data.

TechCrunch reported the collective claims for this lawsuit could top over 10 billion Euro's if The Privacy Collective is victorious.

Privacy Collective announced they will also be submitting a lawsuit against the companies with the High Court in London.

The group claims that the software companies are collecting and storing user data without clear consent, arguing a violation of EU privacy laws.

Why It’s Important: Both companies are accused of using third-party cookies for ad tracking. EU laws require consent by internet users for their data to be tracked.

Class representative and claimant in England & Wales, Dr. Rebecca Rumbul told TechCrunch, “There is, I think, no way that any normal person can really give informed consent to the way in which their data is going to be processed by the cookies that have been placed by Oracle and Salesforce.”

In a statement to Yahoo!, Oracle EVP and General Counsel, Dorian Daley said the lawsuit is, “meritless action based on deliberate misrepresentations of the facts."

Salesforce also refuted the claim, a spokesperson telling Yahoo! Money, Salesforce,“disagrees with the allegations and intends to demonstrate they are without merit”.

What’s Next: Don’t expect a payout in the coming days. This case could take years to make its way through the court process.

American tech companies have been under fire by EU privacy laws, with Uber UBER being sued over EU privacy laws in recent weeks as well.