Amazon Settles Ring, Alexa Privacy Complaints

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Facts

  • On Wednesday, Amazon agreed to settle a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint for $5.8M over allegations employees improperly accessed footage from its Ring home security cameras. Another $25M will be paid to Alexa customers over alleged violations of children's privacy regulations.1
  • The FTC alleged that employees and third-party contractors had unrestricted access to Ring footage due to a "lax attitude" toward privacy at the home security camera company, which Amazon acquired in 2018.2
  • According to the FTC, one incident included a Ring employee who spied on 81 female customers over a three-month period. It also alleged 55K US customers suffered "serious account compromises" by outside actors due to device vulnerabilities.3
  • In a separate settlement with Alexa virtual assistant customers, the FTC alleged that Amazon had retained the data of minors even after parental requests for deletion.4
  • Amazon, in a statement, said it disagreed with the allegations and denied violating the law, saying these issues were addressed before the FTC complaints. The $5.8M will be directed toward customer refunds.3
  • Before 2017, Ring employees had unrestricted access to customer footage, with Amazon requiring customers to consent to video access in 2019. The FTC agreement requires Amazon to inform customers how much of their data employees and contractors are able to access.2

Sources: 1UPI, 2Reuters, 3ABC News, and 4Guardian.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Taylor Vinters. Video doorbells and other web-connected surveillance devices are unmitigated privacy nightmares. They not only collect copious amounts of information about their users and those around them, but their terms and conditions make little reference to privacy laws and allow companies to take complete ownership over all data collected. This settlement was a long time coming, as Amazon's carelessness caused distress to an untold number of customers.
  • Narrative B, as provided by US About Amazon. Privacy concerns started well before Amazon acquired Ring, but the company cleaned up the lax Ring culture out of concern for customers. There are inherent privacy risks to video doorbells, which the surging consumer demand for personalized and web-connected devices is evidently willing to accept in return for convenience. However, Amazon boasts a robust privacy and data management regime, which mitigates these risks.