Amazon · Ars Technica
Amazon-owned Ring should pay Americans for scanning their runs into, suit confirms
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A lawsuit against Amazon is seeking financial damages for millions of Americans whose faces may have been recorded by Ring cameras since the Familiar Faces feature was rolled out late last year.
Key facts
- Sigwalt lives in Virginia and filed the suit in US District Court for the Western District of Washington, where Amazon is headquartered
- Ring camera users can create a “personal directory of up to 50 familiar faces” so they can be alerted when one comes to the door
- Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has urged Amazon to discontinue the Familiar Faces feature
- Ring posed privacy risks before the Familiar Faces and Search Party features were launched
Summary
Plaintiff Charles Sigwalt yesterday filed a class action suit that aims to represent all people in the US “who had their facial recognition data collected, retained, and otherwise used by the Familiar Faces feature created and implemented by Defendant.” The lawsuit will seek “far” more than $5 million, but the $5 million figure was given in the complaint because US district courts have jurisdiction for civil actions seeking at least that amount.
Ring’s Familiar Faces feature is designed to identify people who appear at one’s door and provide alerts to the owner of the camera. Sigwalt lives in Virginia and filed the suit in US District Court for the Western District of Washington, where Amazon is headquartered.