Yahoo Finance Amazon’s Ring doorbell employees spied on users’ bathrooms
Staff at the security camera maker Ring could watch thousands of videos of people in their bedrooms and bathrooms without owners’ knowledge, a US regulator has claimed.
The company, which is now owned by Amazon, granted employees and third-party contractors unfettered access to videos taken with the cameras, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said.
One male customer service employee viewed thousands of videos of 81 female users, often for an hour or more each day, without the company’s knowledge. The employee was not stopped until his activity was discovered by a co-worker, the regulator said.
Ring is best known for its video doorbells but also sells indoor and outdoor home security cameras. It started selling its devices in the UK in 2016.
Amazon has paid a $5.8m (£4.7m) fine to settle the case and said the practice has been halted since.
The FTC also said that Ring had failed to introduce “basic privacy and security protections”, allowing hackers to take control of thousands of accounts and cameras.
The regulator said the company had bypassed safety concerns “in pursuit of rapid product development”. As well as employees, hundreds of contractors based in Ukraine had access to videos stored by customers.
The employee who was reported for downloading thousands of videos was ultimately fired, with Ring introducing extra security measures for customer service employees following the incident.
However, a second employee continued to download videos from a female colleague’s camera system, according to the FTC. The regulator said that security issues continued until 2020, with the company gradually limiting access to videos.
Ring was founded in 2013. The company started selling indoor cameras in 2016, the year the first privacy violations identified by the FTC occurred, and was bought by Amazon in 2018.
In 2019, it emerged that police forces around the UK were handing out free Ring doorbells to victims of crime to help catch repeat offenders. Earlier this year, a new pilot scheme in East Renfrewshire saw the video doorbells handed out to vulnerable residents who had been the victim of a scam.
An Oxford doctor was set to be awarded up to £100,000 in 2021 after a judge ruled that her neighbour’s smart doorbell camera breached her privacy, paving the way for similar rulings in the UK.
Amazon has separately paid a $25m fine related to allegations that it failed to protect children who used its Alexa voice speakers. The FTC claimed the company had failed to delete recordings when requested by parents and kept them longer than needed.
“While we disagree with the FTC’s claims regarding both Alexa and Ring, and deny violating the law, these settlements put these matters behind us,” Amazon said.
“Ring promptly addressed the issues at hand on its own years ago, well before the FTC began its inquiry. Our focus has been and remains on delivering products and features our customers love, while upholding our commitment to protect their privacy and security.”
