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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a privacy settlement with Amazon’s Ring, stating that the company used its cameras to spy on its customers.
Amazon Ring doorbell camera. Image credit: Amazon Ring
According to court documents filed by the FTC, a former Ring employee engaged in months-long surveillance of female customers in 2017, placing cameras in their bedrooms and bathrooms. As part of the settlement, Amazon agreed to pay $5.8 million in fines.
Additionally, Amazon settled another case in which it was accused of violating children’s privacy rights. The company will pay $25 million for allegedly keeping Alexa recordings of children longer than necessary and failing to delete them as requested by parents.
These settlements represent the FTC’s ongoing efforts to hold Big Tech accountable for prioritizing data collection profits over privacy concerns.
While laws regarding video surveillance and privacy vary widely across different jurisdictions, in most cases, consent is required from individuals being recorded, especially in private spaces such as bedrooms or bathrooms.
Laws slightly differ between surveillance conducted by individuals (such as through personal cameras) and surveillance conducted by entities like companies or government agencies. For companies, these regulations are much more stringent.
Amazon building – illustrative photo. Image credit: Bryan Angelo via Unsplash, free license
The FTC is also investigating Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot Corp for $1.7 billion, announced in August 2022, as well as conducting a separate antitrust probe into Amazon.
Following these settlements, Amazon has committed to implementing changes in its practices, addressing the concerns raised by the FTC.
“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,” the company said in its official response.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Ring, a subsidiary of Amazon, granted employees unrestricted access to customers’ sensitive video data obtained from domestic surveillance cameras. This allowed employees and third-party contractors to view, download, and transfer customers’ video data, leading to serious privacy and security concerns.
The FTC’s complaint revealed an incident in 2017 where an employee accessed videos of at least 81 female customers and Ring employees without detection by the company. This unauthorized surveillance continued for several months until a colleague reported the misconduct, resulting in the employee’s termination.
Furthermore, the complaint highlighted additional instances of misconduct. In one case, an employee shared a customer’s camera recordings with their ex-spouse without obtaining consent. Another employee was found to have distributed Ring devices to individuals and subsequently watched their videos without their knowledge.
As part of the settlement between Ring and the FTC, which will last for 20 years, Ring is obligated to disclose the extent of access that the company and its contractors have to customer data.
The fines imposed on Amazon, totaling $30.8 million, only represent a small fraction of the company’s substantial profits, which reached $3.2 billion in the first quarter.
Written by Alius Noreika
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