Lawsuit Against Amazon’s Ring for Facial Recognition Practices

A resident of Virginia has initiated a lawsuit against Amazon, claiming that the Ring doorbell camera employs facial recognition technology without obtaining permission from individuals. The suit, filed by Charles Sigwald, alleges that Ring’s Familiar Faces feature records images of people passing by without their consent, as reported by Reuters. Sigwald is pursuing class action status and seeks over $5 million in damages.

The lawsuit contends that those whose facial images were captured did not agree to have their privacy infringed upon at their doorsteps. It states, “Millions of other Americans walked by Ring’s surveillance cameras and had their facial recognition information collected without their knowledge.” The claims highlight what they describe as a significant privacy breach, affecting countless individuals monitored by Amazon.

When reached for comment, Amazon declined to respond. The Ring website mentions that data is encrypted and stored in the cloud, rather than on the cameras themselves.

In a statement, the Ring product team said, “We are committed to building safe, responsible and intelligent products and capabilities through design, development, deployment and operation.”

Amazon purchased Ring for $1 billion in 2018, and since then, the video doorbell company has faced ongoing scrutiny. In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a $5.8 million settlement with Ring linked to privacy issues, particularly concerning a former employee accessing a customer’s video feed without authorization. Although the FTC noted that Ring had the ability to access and download users’ video data, Amazon maintained it did nothing wrong as part of the agreement.

Following criticism, Ring also decided to end its partnership with Flock Safety, which involved the use of license plate readers and cameras for law enforcement purposes.