FTC awarding more than $5M in refunds to Ring customers over privacy settlement

Source: The Hill

04/25/24 1:18 PM ET


The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began distributing over $5 million in refunds to Amazon Ring customers on Tuesday, enforcing a settlement with the tech giant over claims that Ring failed to protect consumer privacy.

The FTC claimed in a 2023 complaint that Ring allowed employees and contractors improper access to records from the company’s security cameras, potentially putting customer’s privacy at risk. Ring allegedly used such footage to train algorithms without consent, among other purposes.

The agency called the lapses “egregious violations of users’ privacy.”

Amazon, which owns Ring, settled the claims last year and agreed to pay $5.6 million in refunds to Ring customers. The company separately settled a second privacy claim over its Alexa voice assistant for $25 million. The FTC said it will send refunds to over 115,000 customers who owned certain Ring devices, including indoor cameras, via PayPal.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4621282-ftc-awarding-more-than-5m-in-refunds-to-ring-customers-over-privacy-settlement/