Amazon-Owned Ring Customers Receive $5.6 Million From FTC For Privacy Violations; FTC Says, "Profit Over Privacy Doesn't Pay"

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has distributed $5.6 million to customers of Amazon-owned Ring. This payout is part of the enforcement actions taken against the company for failing to adequately safeguard user privacy.

The FTC's enforcement actions follow a $5.8 million fine levied against Ring in May 2023 for significant privacy violations. 

Employees and contractors of Ring had accessed customer video feeds without authorization, and these feeds were improperly used to train machine learning algorithms. 

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This lack of privacy controls led to severe personal intrusions, including spying and harassment of customers by both employees and external hackers.

"Ring's disregard for privacy and security exposed consumers to spying and harassment," said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "The FTC's order makes clear that putting profit over privacy doesn't pay.

The privacy lapses at Ring included alarming incidents where employees viewed highly private videos, such as those capturing female users in bedrooms and bathrooms, without detection by the company's internal controls. 

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Additionally, hackers exploited these security flaws, using the camera's two-way talk function to threaten users, such as elderly women and children, to sexual and racial abuse.

In response to these violations, the FTC required Ring to implement stricter security measures and remove all improperly retained consumer videos.

Recently, Ring also introduced a new policy restricting police officers from requesting and accessing footage from Ring doorbells without owner consent.

The recent payout to users is a continuation of the FTC’s efforts to address these privacy violations and to compensate the affected consumers directly.

A total of 117,044 users impacted by these privacy issues will receive their share of the compensation via PayPal payments. 

Amazon, the parent company of Ring, has also faced privacy concerns. The FTC filed a case against Amazon for violating children's privacy rights through its voice assistant, Alexa, which resulted in Amazon paying $25 million in settlement over these allegations.

This initiative is a significant step toward addressing the consequences of privacy violations and sends a potent message to the corporate world about the paramount importance of consumer privacy.

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