uk has reached out to Amazon for comment.When Hvaldimir was first seen in 2019, his discovery made worldwide headlines as people worried he was trained to spy by Russia’s military. So, while the smart devices might make life easier, you might want to uncover your Alexa recordings and delete them. The FTC settlements are the agency's latest effort to hold Big Tech accountable for policies critics say place profits from data collection ahead of privacy.Īmazon is being investigated on multiple counts, including a $1.7 billion deal to buy popular robot vacuum Roomba creators, iRobot Corp, announced in August 2022. 'The unlawfully retained voice recordings provided Amazon with a valuable database for training the Alexa algorithm to understand children, benefiting its bottom line at the expense of children's privacy,' the FTC said. In its complaint against filed in Washington state, the FTC said it violated rules protecting children's privacy and against deceiving consumers who used Alexa.įor example, the FTC complaint says that Amazon told users it would delete voice transcripts and location information upon request, but failed to do so.

The fines, totalling $30.8 million, represent a fraction of Amazon's $3.2 billion first-quarter profit.

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