Amazon Alexa records children's voices without consent
Lawsuits filed in Seattle and Los Angeles allege Amazon is recording children who use its Alexa devices without their knowledge or consent, in violation of laws governing recordings in at least eight US states. The suits highlight Amazon's permanent recording and storing of voices, regardless of consent, in contrast to makers of voice-controlled computing devices that delete recordings after storing them for a short time or not at all. 'Alexa routinely records and voiceprints millions of children without their consent or the consent of their parents,' said a complaint filed on behalf of a 10-year-old girl in Seattle. A nearly identical suit was filed the same day in Los Angeles on behalf of an 8-year-old boy. 'At no point does Amazon warn unregistered users that it is creating persistent voice recordings of their Alexa interactions, let alone obtain their consent to do so,' the same suit says. The two suits also highlight Amazon's failure to inform unknowing parties of their recordings and seek their approval or delete them. System 🤖 Amazon Alexa Operator: Alison Hall-O’Neil; Steve Altes Developer: Amazon Country: USA Sector: Consumer goods Purpose: Provide information, services Technology: NLP/text analysis; Natural language understanding (NLU); Speech recognition Issue: Privacy : Transparency Legal, regulatory 👩🏼⚖️ C.O. v Amazon, A2Z Development Center (2019) (pdf) R.A. v Amazon, A2Z Development Center (2019) (pdf)
- Date it happened
- 2019-06-01
- Organisation involved
- Alison Hall-O’Neil; Steve Altes
- Product, system or model
- Amazon Alexa
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