A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed in San Francisco federal court and requires a judge's approval. Oracle denied wrongdoing.

The plaintiffs, who otherwise have no connection to Oracle, said the company violated federal and state privacy laws and California's constitution by creating unauthorised "digital dossiers" for hundreds of millions of people.

They said the dossiers contained data, including where people browsed online, did their banking, bought petrol, dined out, shopped, and used their credit cards.

Oracle then allegedly sold the information directly to marketers or through products such as ID Graph, which, according to the company, helps marketers "orchestrate a relevant, personalised experience for each individual."

The settlement covers people whose personal information Oracle collected or sold since 19 August 2018.

As part of the settlement, the Austin, Texas-based company agreed not to gather user-generated information from URLs of previously visited websites or text that users enter in online forms other than on Oracle's websites.

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, representing the plaintiffs, may seek up to $28.75 million from the settlement for legal fees.