Amazon to Pay Over $30M Due to Ring and Alexa Privacy Violations

Amazon to Pay Over $30M Due to Ring and Alexa Privacy Violations

Amazon to Pay Over $30M , Due to Ring and Alexa Privacy Violations.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made the announcement on May 31, CNET reports.

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Amazon must pay two individual privacy violation penalties.

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$25 million will be shelled out "for allegedly not deleting children's data," .

And $5.8 million will be paid for not restricting access to Ring security videos, CNET reports.

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The settlement follows a complaint alleging that parents weren't able to delete their kids' voices and location data acquired by Alexa.

Amazon then allegedly used that data for years to enhance Alexa's algorithm.

Amazon then allegedly used that data for years to enhance Alexa's algorithm.

[The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act Rule] does not allow companies to keep children's data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms, Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, via statement.

As for the penalty against Ring, employees and contractors were allegedly able to access customer videos with relative ease.

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One employee over several months viewed thousands of video recordings belonging to female users of Ring cameras that surveilled intimate spaces in their homes such as their bathrooms or bedrooms. , FTC, via statement.

The employee wasn't stopped until another employee discovered the misconduct, FTC, via statement