Amazon has agreed to pay $30.8 million to settle privacy complaints filed by US regulators against Ring and Alexa, according to court documents. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Ring, the Amazon-owned home security camera company, of failing to adequately implement basic protections to prevent unauthorized access to devices or user accounts by employees.
According to the complaint, Ring’s security failures resulted in serious privacy violations, such as the surveillance of users via security cameras in their bedrooms or bathrooms. The FTC asserted that Ring’s lack of attention to privacy and security exposed consumers to spying and harassment.
Under a proposed order requiring a judge’s approval, Ring must delete any illegally obtained data and strengthen its security. Hackers exploited these vulnerabilities not only to access video streams but also to harass minors, make sexual advances, and threaten families for rewards, according to the FTC.
As part of the settlement, Ring will pay $5.8 million, while Amazon will shell out an additional $25 million to resolve allegations that voice records of minors recorded by the Alexa virtual assistant were not removed as they should have been.
Ring said it quickly addressed these issues on its own before the FTC launched its investigation and noted that it disagrees with the allegations. Amazon, for its part, will identify and delete any personal information stored in inactive minors’ profiles, according to the proposed order.
US law prohibits companies from retaining data on minors indefinitely for any reason, especially to train their algorithms, said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau.