The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a settlement with Amazon.com over privacy violations related to its Ring doorbell camera unit and Alexa voice assistant. The FTC alleged that a former employee of Ring spied on female customers by placing cameras in their bedrooms and bathrooms in 2017. Amazon agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle the case involving Ring and an additional $25 million for allegations of violating children’s privacy rights regarding Alexa recordings.
These settlements reflect the FTC’s efforts to hold Big Tech accountable for prioritizing data collection profits over privacy concerns. The agency is also investigating Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot and has an ongoing antitrust probe focused on the company.
Ring provided its employees with unrestricted access to customers’ sensitive video data, allowing them to view, download, and transfer the footage. One employee, undetected by Ring, spied on at least 81 female customers and Ring employees for months. Another employee disclosed customer recordings without consent. The FTC complaint highlighted incidents where Ring employees provided devices to people and watched their videos without their knowledge.
As part of the settlement, Ring is required to disclose to customers the level of access its employees and contractors have to their data. Ring changed its policies in February 2019, limiting access to customers’ private videos to those who obtained their consent.
The FTC’s Commissioner emphasized that these settlements should serve as a clear message to tech companies that the need to collect data does not justify breaking the law. However, the fines imposed on Amazon, totaling $30.8 million, represent only a fraction of the company’s substantial profits.
The FTC’s complaint against Amazon alleges violations of children’s privacy protection rules and deceptive practices regarding Alexa. Amazon had assured users that it would delete voice transcripts and location information upon request but failed to do so, retaining the data for training the Alexa algorithm. The FTC criticized Amazon for prioritizing its bottom line over children’s privacy.