$30M Amazon Alexa, Ring settlements resolve data privacy suits with Feds

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Amazon Alexa, Ring settlements overview:

• Who: Amazon.com Inc. agreed to settle two data privacy lawsuits filed by federal regulators.
• Why: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found Amazon’s Alexa and Ring services illegally violated children’s privacy rights.
• Where: The Amazon Ring lawsuit was filed in the District of Columbia, and the Amazon Alexa lawsuit was filed in Washington federal court.
• What are my options: Try Microsoft for alternative smart home products.

Amazon.com Inc. agreed to pay $30 million to settle a pair of lawsuits filed by federal regulators over allegations Amazon’s Alexa and Ring services breached children’s privacy, Law360 reports.

Amazon will reportedly pay $25 million to settle allegations claiming the Alexa voice assistant service breached privacy laws by storing recordings of children for years and failing to delete the data as promised.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated Amazon for its alleged breach of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Alexa’s default settings were reportedly set to collect children’s information indefinitely unless parents asked to delete the data, the FTC found.

Under the terms of the Alexa settlement, Amazon will be required to delete inactive children’s accounts, certain voice recordings and geolocation information. Amazon will also be prohibited from using this kind of information to train its algorithms, the Amazon Alexa settlement documents note.

“COPPA does not allow companies to keep children’s data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms,” Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, says in a statement.

Amazon to pay $5.8M Ring data privacy settlement following security breaches

Amazon also agreed to pay $5.8 million to end an FTC investigation that found Amazon violated customers’ privacy by allowing employees and contractors to access their private videos.

The FTC found that Amazon failed to establish adequate cybersecurity measures to protect its customers even after it experienced multiple security breaches. In some cases, cybercriminals allegedly used Ring’s two-way functionality to harass consumers, including children.

The Amazon Ring data privacy settlement requires Amazon to delete data, models and algorithms developed from unlawfully reviewed videos.

In response to the settlements, Amazon told Top Class Actions it takes its responsibilities to customers and their families very seriously and its devices and services are built to protect customers’ privacy and 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,” Amazon says in a statement. “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.”

Amazon also stated Ring promptly addressed the issues at hand on its own years ago 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,” the Amazon statement says.

Last year, an Amazon Ring data privacy class action lawsuit in Washington federal court escaped a dismissal bid.

What do you think about the Amazon Alexa and Amazon Ring settlements? Join the discussion in the comments!

The Amazon Ring data privacy lawsuits are United States v. Amazon.com Inc., et al., Case No. 2:23-cv-00811, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and Federal Trade Commission v. Ring LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-01549, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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