Amazon and its subsidiary Ring will pay millions to settle cases that focused on cameras being used to spy on female customers and Alexa privacy issues related to recordings of children.
The technology giant denies violating the law but agreed to pay $30.8m after two separate privacy cases were brought against it and its doorbell device subsidiary Ring by America’s consumer watchdog the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Amazon will pay $25m to settle a case where the FTC argued that the company had not deleted recordings of children at the request of parents, allegedly storing them for longer than needed.
In the Ring doorbell case, the FTC detailed an instance from 2017 where a Ring staff member had spied on multiple female customers from cameras placed in bedrooms and bathrooms. The spying allegedly continued for months before the staff member was caught and terminated. The allegation was made as part of the FTC’s case that argued that Amazon employees had unrestricted access to customers’ video data.
To settle the case, Ring will pay $5.8m and must also disclose to customers how much data access the company and its contractors have. Amazon purchased Ring in 2018 and Ring had made changes to its privacy policies in 2019.
In a statement released after news of the settlement broke Amazon said:
“At Amazon, we take our responsibilities to our customers and their families very seriously. Our devices and services are built to protect customers’ privacy, and to provide customers with control over their experience. While we disagree with the FTC’s claims regarding both Alexa and Ring, and deny violating the law, these settlements put these matters behind us.
“We built Alexa with strong privacy protections and customer controls, designed Amazon Kids to comply with COPPA, and collaborated with the FTC before expanding Amazon Kids to include Alexa. As part of the settlement, we agreed to make a small modification to our already strong practices, and will remove child profiles that have been inactive for more than 18 months unless a parent or guardian chooses to keep them.
“Ring promptly addressed the issues at hand on its own years ago, well before the FTC began its inquiry. Our focus has been and remains on delivering products and features our customers love, while upholding our commitment to protect their privacy and security.”
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