Security News > 2023 > June > FTC Slams Amazon with $30.8M Fine for Privacy Violations Involving Alexa and Ring

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has fined Amazon a cumulative $30.8 million over a series of privacy lapses regarding its Alexa assistant and Ring security cameras.

Amazon has also agreed to fork out an additional $5.8 million in consumer refunds for breaching users' privacy by permitting any employee or contractor to gain broad and unfettered access to private videos recorded using Ring cameras.

The consumer protection authority, besides faulting Amazon for failing to adequately notify customers or obtain their consent before using the captured recordings for product improvement, called out the company for not implementing adequate security controls to protect Ring user accounts.

"Bad actors not only viewed some customers' videos but also used Ring cameras' two-way functionality to harass, threaten, and insult consumers-including elderly individuals and children-whose rooms were monitored by Ring cameras, and to change important device settings," it explained.

While both settlements must be approved by a court to take effect, Amazon said "We our responsibilities to our customers and their families very seriously" and that it's "Consistently taken steps to protect customer privacy by providing clear privacy disclosures and customer controls, and maintaining strict internal controls to protect customer data."

The development comes weeks after the FTC accused Meta of "Repeatedly" violating its privacy promises and misleading parents about their ability to control with whom their children communicated through its Messenger Kids app between late 2017 and mid-2019.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2023/06/ftc-slams-amazon-with-308m-fine-for.html