Amazon faces class action lawsuit over Ring facial-recognition feature
TechCrunch • • business
Key Points:
- Amazon faces a class action lawsuit over privacy violations linked to its Ring doorbell cameras' Familiar Faces feature, which allegedly stores images of passersby without their consent.
- The Familiar Faces feature uses AI facial recognition to identify regular visitors, providing specific notifications, but only Ring users opt in, while bystanders do not consent to scans.
- Privacy advocates and consumer groups, including the EFF and Senator Ed Markey, previously criticized the feature for privacy concerns, which are central to the current lawsuit.
- Amazon claims face data is encrypted, not shared, and that unidentified faces are deleted after 30 days, but the company has a history of privacy issues, including a $5.8 million FTC fine in 2023 for improper video access.
- Ring has also faced scrutiny for its cooperation with law enforcement, granting police access to user footage without a warrant, raising further privacy concerns.