Amazon’s Ring agrees to pay $5.8 million to settle FTC espionage lawsuit

The settlement addresses a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the FTC that accuses Ring of illegally deceiving its customers over the privacy of their data and video collected by its products. according to the agency ComplaintRing failed to prevent employees and contractors from accessing customer videos and using them to train algorithms without user consent.

“Ring’s disregard for privacy and security exposes consumers to snooping and harassment,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement Wednesday. “FTC Order Makes Clear That Profiting Over Privacy Doesn’t Pay.”

The FTC’s complaint alleges that Ring failed to implement meaningful safeguards to protect employees and third-party contractors from accessing customer videos. In one case, the FTC claims a Ring employee viewed “thousands of video recordings” that originated from female users who “surveyed intimate places in their homes,” such as their bedrooms and bathrooms. The FTC said this abusive behavior continued until it was discovered by another employee.

under the FTC’s proposed orderRing will be required to remove all data and algorithms generated from illegally viewed videos. Ring must also create a new privacy and security program that prohibits employees from viewing customer videos except in specific law enforcement circumstances. The order would also prohibit the company from using certain geolocation and voice information to help make or improve products.

Before Ring can formally settle the matter, a federal court must approve the proposed settlement.

The complaint also alleges Ring illegally failed to prevent several cyberattacks, such as two 2017 and 2018 credential stuffing attacks. After gaining access to approximately 55,000 customer accounts, the FTC alleges that the hackers were able to “harass, threaten and insult customers” through their tools.

“For example, the hackers taunted several children with racist slurs, sexually propositioned individuals, and threatened physical harm to a family if a ransom was not paid,” said the FTC’s Wednesday press release.

in a statement to ledge WednesdayRing spokeswoman Emma Daniels said the company did not refute the FTC’s claims, but that the company “addressed these issues promptly on its own years ago, long before the FTC began its investigation.”

“While we disagree with the FTC’s allegations and deny violating the law, this settlement resolves this matter so that we can focus on innovating on behalf of our customers,” Daniels said.