Amazon faces class action lawsuit over Ring facial-recognition feature
Amazon is being sued for allegedly violating privacy by storing images of passersby without consent using its Ring doorbell cameras' Familiar Faces feature.Summary
Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit filed in Seattle by Virginia resident Charles Sigwalt, which alleges that Ring's Familiar Faces feature violates privacy by storing images of passersby without their consent. The feature, launched in December, uses AI facial recognition to identify regular visitors like family members or neighbors, but privacy advocates argue that people walking past the cameras have not consented to these scans. The lawsuit claims that "Millions of other Americans passed by a Ring security camera and unknowingly had their facial recognition information collected." Amazon has stated that face data is encrypted and never shared, and unidentified faces are automatically removed after 30 days. This lawsuit adds to a history of privacy concerns surrounding Ring, including a $5.8 million settlement with the FTC in 2023 over improper access to private videos and previous partnerships with law enforcement that raised civil liberties issues.
(Source：TechCrunch)