Amazon Alexa Class Action Lawsuit: Company Denies Privacy Violations

Case Overview: Amazon is seeking to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging that its Alexa voice assistant illegally records private conversations without users' consent. The company denies the allegations and argues that Alexa's functionality is well understood by consumers.

Consumers Affected: Users of Amazon Alexa devices.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle

Amazon is asking a judge to dismiss a multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit alleging that its Alexa voice assistant illegally records private conversations without users' consent. 

The tech giant is arguing to the court that the lawsuit lacks evidence to support claims of privacy violations, adding that Alexa’s functionality is well understood by consumers and that the company hasn’t done anything deceptive or unfair.

Consumers Allege Alexa Records Private Conversations Without Consent

The class action lawsuit, filed in 2021, accuses Amazon of violating wiretap laws by allegedly collecting and storing data through Alexa’s voice-assistant software beyond its intended commands. 

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that Amazon designed Alexa to record private conversations even when users did not say the “wake” word, like “Hi, Alexa,” that triggers the device. They claim this led to billions of private conversations being secretly recorded without consent.

Through the lawsuit, the consumers are seeking a court order to prevent Amazon from using these alleged recordings and to force the company to delete any data collected through these “secret” recordings. They argue that Amazon's alleged actions were a deliberate invasion of privacy.

Amazon Defends Alexa's Functionality and Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit

In its motion to dismiss, Amazon argues that the lawsuit misrepresents how Alexa functions and exaggerates its recording capabilities. Amazon states that Alexa-enabled devices monitor only for specific sounds matching the wake word and activate only when they detect that pattern. According to Amazon, this design ensures Alexa does not record incidental conversations.

Amazon also argues that consumers understand Alexa’s functions and know it responds only to intentional prompts. The company says that only a very small percentage of Alexa recordings go through anonymized human review for machine learning, a process Amazon says was transparently communicated to users. 

In response to allegations of privacy violations, Amazon says it has implemented strong safeguards to prevent “false wake” activations and claims that Alexa does not record or retain private conversations.

Amazon also argues that extensive discovery in the case, involving years of investigation, has failed to produce evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claims of intentional or systematic recording of private conversations. Based on this lack of evidence, Amazon is pushing for the dismissal of all claims in the lawsuit.

Amazon Faces Other Legal Challenges Related to Alexa and User Privacy

Amazon has faced multiple lawsuits related to Alexa and user privacy. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice charged Amazon with violating children’s privacy laws. 

The agencies alleged that Amazon stored children’s voice recordings indefinitely and ignored parents’ deletion requests. Amazon agreed to a $25 million settlement and committed to deleting children’s voice recordings, geolocation data, and other related information.

Amazon was also recently ordered by a Delaware federal court to pay $46.7 million for infringing on four patents owned by VB Assets, a subsidiary of Nuance Communications. The case focused on Amazon’s Echo devices and Alexa technology, which allegedly infringed patents related to voice-activated conversational interfaces. The court ordered Amazon to pay the amount as a running royalty rather than a lump sum, after a jury’s finding of patent infringement.

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Garner, et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., et al.
• Case Number: 2:21-cv-00750
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle

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