Amazon Settles Over Alexa's Recording of Children

Online retail behemoth Amazon is to pay a $25m civil penalty as part settlement of charges of violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), relating to its recording of the voices of under-13s using its Alexa home assistant.

The announcement by the US Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Amazon had agreed the fine and a permanent injunction in an attempt to resolve alleged violations of COPPA, of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) and the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). Alexa, provided via Amazon's Echo smart speakers and a mobile app, has since May 2018 included voice-activated products and services directed toward children under 13 years of age: requests have been recorded and saved by Amazon, with a transcript produced, and the complaint alleged that Amazon kept these recordings indefinitely, by default, in breach of COPPA which requires their retention only as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which they were collected. The complaint also alleged that Amazon did not delete audio files or attached geolocation information when parents requested it, despite assurance it would.

Director Samuel Levine of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection said in a statement: 'Amazon's history of misleading parents, keeping children's recordings indefinitely, and flouting parents' deletion requests violated COPPA and sacrificed privacy for profits. COPPA does not allow companies to keep children's data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms'.

'Parents want and deserve to have control over data related to their young children', adds said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman for the Western District of Washington. 'This includes recordings of the child's voice, the child's location, and the questions the child asks an Alexa device. Some may be delighted to have those recordings saved for sentimental reasons - but that needs to be the parent's choice - not a decision made by Amazon'.

Web sites: www.ftc.gov and www.justice.gov .