Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, Amazon would be required to delete the children’s voice recordings and precise location data, as well as inactive Alexa accounts belonging to the children. The proposed settlement also prohibits Amazon from misrepresenting how it handles user voice recordings, precise location data and data on children.
A federal court must approve the conciliation order.
The Amazon case comes at a time of heightened public concern about how some prominent social networks, video game services and device makers treat their younger users. It highlights the intensification of efforts by the Federal Trade Commission to force big technology platforms to strengthen the protection of sensitive information, such as precise location or personal health details, the disclosure of which could pose physical or privacy risks for users. adult consumers and children.
Last December, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, agreed to pay $520 million to settle FTC allegations that it had illegally collected data from players under the age of 13 and separately directed millions of users to make unlawful payments. desired. In 2019, Google agreed to pay a $170 million fine to settle charges by the FTC and the New York attorney general that it had violated children’s privacy on YouTube.
The intensifying regulatory push to protect children online is not limited to the United States. Last September, Irish regulators announced they would be slapping a fine of around $400 million on Meta for its handling of child information on Instagram. Meta said she disagreed and planned to appeal.
In a separate case On Wednesday, the FTC accused Ring, the home security camera service, of committing “egregious violations” of user privacy, saying privacy and security lapses at the company had allowed employees to illegally spying on customers and allowing hackers to hijack user accounts. .
Regulators said Ring, which Amazon acquired in 2018, had “unreasonable” data privacy and security practices from at least 2016 to January 2020.
In 2017, for example, a Ring employee viewed thousands of videos belonging to dozens of customers, including in sensitive places like women’s bedrooms and bathrooms, the agency said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. for the District of Columbia.