In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Amazon has agreed to pay $30 million in fines to resolve allegations of privacy violations related to its Ring video doorbell and Alexa virtual assistant services.
The company’s Ring subsidiary was accused of engaging in unlawful surveillance of customers and failing to prevent hackers from gaining control of users’ cameras. As part of the settlement, Ring will pay $5.8 million in refunds to consumers and will be prohibited from profiting from unlawfully obtained consumer videos.
The complaint filed by the FTC claimed that Ring compromised customer privacy by granting access to private videos to its employees and contractors. It also highlighted the company’s failure to implement basic privacy and security measures, which allowed hackers to gain control of consumers’ cameras and videos by breaching their accounts. The complaint further revealed that before September 2017, Ring provided full access to every customer video to all employees and even hundreds of third-party contractors in Ukraine, irrespective of their job functions.
In addition to the fine for Ring, Amazon also faced a separate $25 million fine for violating children’s privacy laws. The FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice charged Amazon with failing to delete voice recordings and geolocation data upon parents’ requests.
The proposed order requires Amazon to delete the children’s data and prohibits the company from using it to train its algorithms. Furthermore, Amazon is mandated to delete inactive child accounts, along with their linked voice recordings and geolocation data.
This settlement highlights the significance of privacy concerns surrounding smart home devices and virtual assistants. The FTC’s actions serve as a reminder to companies that they must prioritize user privacy, implement robust security measures, and promptly address privacy-related issues to prevent unauthorized access and protect user data.
