![]() The order also requires Amazon to create a privacy program for its use of geolocation information. In addition to the fine in the Alexa case, the proposed order prohibits Amazon from using deleted geolocation and voice information to create or improve any data product. The agency ordered the company to delete inactive child accounts as well as certain voice and geolocation data. US law 'does not allow companies to keep children's data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms,' Levine said. 'Amazon's history of misleading parents, keeping children´s recordings indefinitely, and flouting parents´ deletion requests violated COPPA (the Child Online Privacy Protection Act) and sacrificed privacy for profits,' said Levine. The order also obliges the tech giant to delete certain data collected by its internet-connected digital assistant, which people use for everything from checking the weather to playing games and queueing up music. The Alexa complaint alleges that Amazon kept recordings of children for years to help train its algorithms, even when their parents requested the data be deleted Under the proposed order, Amazon would overhaul its data deletion practices and impose stricter, more transparent privacy measures. The Alexa complaint alleges that Amazon kept recordings of children for years to help train its algorithms, even when their parents requested the data be deleted.įTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said in a statement that 'when parents asked Amazon to delete their kids´ Alexa voice data, the company did not delete all of it.' 'Our focus has been and remains on delivering products and features our customers love, while upholding our commitment to protect their privacy and security' 'Ring promptly addressed these issues on its own years ago, well before the FTC began its inquiry,' Amazon said in statement. 'Ring's disregard for privacy and security exposed consumers to spying and harassment,' FTC bureau of consumer protection director Samuel Levine said in a statement. The complaint says that approximately 55,000 US Ring customers suffered serious account compromises in the course of the attacks, with 910 accounts suffering more intrusive actions such as viewing live feeds or accessing stored video. The complaint also describes a number of horrifying incidents in which hackers used access to Ring cameras to harass and threaten children and families, using the two-way voice function.Īmong the incidents described, a teenager was sexually propositioned by hackers, children were subjected to racist slurs, and an 87-year old woman in an assisted living facility was sexually propositioned and physically threatened. The court filing describes a second incident in January 2018, in which a male Ring employee used his broad access rights to spy on a female colleague through her videos. Only when the supervisor learned the peeping was focused on 'pretty girls' did he escalate the matter, the FTC said. The incident came to light when a female co-worker reported the activity to a supervisor, who initially brushed off viewing the videos as a normal part of the engineer's job, according to the complaint. 'The employee focused his prurient searches on cameras with names indicating that they surveilled an intimate space, such as 'Master Bedroom,' 'Master Bathroom,' or 'Spy Cam,'' the complaint alleged. In one case, a Ring employee spied on at least 81 female customers between June and August of 2017, according to the complaint. The Ring complaint alleges that Amazon's home security camera subsidiary let employees and contractors access consumers' private videos, and provided lax security practices that enabled hackers to take control of some accounts.Īmazon bought California-based Ring in 2018, and many of the violations alleged by the FTC predate the acquisition. ![]() 'At Amazon, we take our responsibilities to our customers and their families very seriously,' the company said. 'Our devices and services are built to protect customers' privacy, and to provide customers with control over their experience.' ![]() But it said the settlements 'put these matters behind us.' In a statement to, Amazon said that it disagreed with the FTC's claims regarding both Alexa and Ring and denied violating the law.
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