Amazon agrees to settle Alexa and Ring privacy violation lawsuits for $30 million

Amazon has agreed to pay over $30 million to settle two lawsuits filed against the retail giant, alleging privacy violations with its Alexa voice assistant and Ring doorbell camera.

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission voted to file charges against Amazon in two separate cases. Both cases could force the online retailer turned major tech company to delete some data acquired through internet connected devices like those powered by the Alexa voice assistant.

In the lawsuit regarding Alexa, the FTC alleges Amazon deceived users for years when it came to the voice assistant service.

Particularly, the FTC said the device captured recordings of children and held onto them unless parents requested to have the recordings deleted.

Even then, the FTC claimed, Amazon continued to hold onto the transcripts of the recordings.

The agency has ordered Amazon to delete all inactive accounts for children, geolocation data and some voice information.