Amazon is facing a complaint from FTC for illegally collecting data from children without parental consent through Alexa-powered speakers. This is a violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
Illegally Collecting Data on Children
The Federal Trade Commission recommended filing a complaint against Amazon over allegations that the company illegally collected data on children under the age of 13 without parental consent in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
Bloomberg reported that the Justice Department could file on FTC's behalf within the next month once it is referred. If it declines, the FTC can proceed on its own. This case has been investigating Amazon for several years already that could potentially allow the agency o collect large civil monetary penalties.
Amazon currently sells a kid's version of its Echo smart speaker that offers a subscription service with a curated selection of applications, books, and other content available. When this case was filed, the company argued that the Echo Dot Kids Edition and FreeTime complied with COPPA.
Monetary Penalties
The federal government might potentially collect large civil monetary penalties, more than $50,000 per alleged violation of the kid's privacy law. This led to significant penalties in previous cases before. However, FTC and Amazon did not release any comment regarding this case.
Politico reported that the agency has been investigating the company for antitrust probe of every part of the company's business, following other investigations into other companies under FTC chair Lina Khan. She first gained international prominence by outlining an antitrust case against Amazon.
The commission fined Weight Watchers for illegally storing data from children and ordered Epic Games to pay $520 million in fines and refunds for targeting children into making in-game purchases and violating their privacy.
The increasing scrutiny around the tech industry has been raising awareness on how much data is collected and stored, even for children.
CNET reported some ways for users to tweak their settings to increase privacy around Amazon Echo speakers, including unplugging or muting the speakers, ensuring that Alexa skills are not listening, managing and deleting voice recordings, and securing connected devices.
Filing the Complaint
In 2019, a group of advocacy organizations related to Children asked the agency to investigate whether Amazon violated children's privacy right through its speakers. CNET reported that this includes the Campaign for a Comercial-Free Childhood, now called Fairplay, and the Center for Digital Democracy.
These groups alleged the company retained voice recordings indefinitely, with some cases held onto personal data even though users tried deleting the data. The complaint states that most of the applications on the Alexa voice assistant for children did not have a privacy policy and Amazon also did not verify parental consent for data collection.
