In February, Intercept investigative reporter Mara Hvistendahl delivered a major scoop, uncovering evidence that tech giant Oracle had marketed and sold software to be used for surveillance by police in China and other oppressive regimes around the world.
So how did Oracle react to the story? Did the company challenge our reporting? Admit its actions and pledge to reform its policies?
Nope. Oracle responded by attacking our reporter. Viciously.
Oracle executive Ken Glueck first lashed out in lengthy blog posts. He asked people to help him dig up dirt on Hvistendahl personally. Then he harassed her on Twitter, getting himself temporarily suspended from that platform.
Despite all the bullying, threats, attacks, and insults, Oracle hasn’t refuted our central findings. And that’s why we won’t back down when Oracle or any other giant corporation, politician, or government tries to evade accountability and shut down investigative journalism.
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Hvistendahl led a team that investigated Oracle and its partners for months, poring over slide presentations and government contracts and engaging in an extensive back-and-forth with Oracle representatives, who gave conflicting responses and sought to spin reality.
A veteran tech journalist formerly based in China, Hvistendahl uncovered how the Beijing police bought a server based on Oracle technology to use in a surveillance system and how Oracle marketed its software for use by police looking to track sensitive citizen data like DNA and medical information. The company even sold technology to the public security bureau in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being held in internment camps.
What’s more, The Intercept found evidence of Oracle selling or marketing analytics software to police in Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. In Brazil, Intercept reporter Tatiana Dias uncovered police contracts between Oracle and Rio de Janeiro’s notoriously corrupt Civil Police.
The Intercept’s investigation into Oracle has struck a nerve — and we won’t be bullied. But taking on corporate giants like this one requires a team of journalists to conduct research and interviews, fact-check and document our conclusions, and distill them into language lay readers can absorb.
