WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a $5.8 million settlement with Amazon's Ring doorbell camera unit for privacy violations. It was revealed that a former employee had been spying on female customers for several months in 2017 by placing cameras in their home. Additionally, Amazon agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it violated children's privacy rights by failing to delete Alexa recordings as requested by parents and retaining them longer than necessary.

These settlements represent the FTC's ongoing efforts to hold Big Tech companies accountable for prioritizing data collection profits over privacy concerns.

The FTC is investigating Amazon's acquisition of iRobot Corp, a $1.7 billion deal announced in August 2022, as part of its efforts to scrutinize the company's activities. Amazon is already facing a separate antitrust probe by the FTC.

Amazon, which acquired Ring in April 2018, has agreed to make certain changes to its practices in light of the FTC settlements. Although Amazon disagrees with the FTC's claims and denies any violation of the law, the company stated that these settlements will help resolve the issues at hand.

According to the FTC, Ring granted its employees unrestricted access to customers' sensitive video data, leading to breaches of privacy. This lack of adequate privacy and security measures enabled employees and third-party contractors to view, download, and transfer customers' sensitive video data without detection. In one specific incident, an employee of Ring unlawfully accessed videos of at least 81 female customers and Ring employees, continuing their spying activities for several months without being detected by the company.

Through these settlements, the FTC aims to address the concerns regarding Amazon's practices and ensure stronger protection of user privacy and data security.

The FTC has reached settlements with Amazon's Ring doorbell camera unit and Amazon itself over privacy violations. The settlements involve a $5.8 million payment by Ring and a $25 million payment by Amazon. The FTC accused Ring of allowing employees unrestricted access to customers' video data, resulting in instances of unauthorized viewing and sharing of sensitive recordings. Amazon was also accused of violating children's privacy rights by retaining voice recordings from Alexa devices longer than necessary.

As part of the settlements, Ring is required to disclose data access to customers, and Amazon has agreed to make changes to its practices. The fines represent a small portion of Amazon's profits. The FTC's actions reflect efforts to hold Big Tech accountable for prioritizing data collection over privacy concerns.