Respecting Privacy: Amazon's $25M Settlement with FTC Over Kids' Privacy and Deletion Requests

-


 Amazon has agreed to pay a $25 million penalty to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and make changes to its privacy practices to settle charges of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FTC accused Amazon of retaining children's voice recordings indefinitely and failing to delete the data even when requested by parents. The company also kept transcripts of children's speech in its databases and did not delete geolocation data, despite being aware of these practices since 2018.

The FTC relaxed COPPA rules to accommodate reasonable usage of voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa by children. However, Amazon's retention of children's speech data for extended periods went beyond what was considered reasonably necessary. The company claimed that the data was crucial for training its machine learning models and justifying its retention practices.

The settlement proposal and complaint from the FTC highlighted the issue of companies amassing data, including from children, to refine their machine learning models. The FTC emphasized that compliance with data privacy laws is essential, and companies cannot use the excuse of improving algorithms to justify indefinite data retention.

Apart from the $25 million fine, Amazon will need to comply with several provisions outlined by the proposed order. These include prohibiting the use of certain data for the creation or improvement of data products, deleting inactive Alexa accounts of children, notifying users about the FTC-DOJ action, disclosing retention and deletion practices, and implementing a privacy program related to geolocation information.

Amazon stated that it disagrees with the FTC's claims but settled the matter to put it behind them. The company commits to removing child profiles that have been inactive for more than 18 months, although the FTC clarified that parents can choose shorter retention periods for their children's voice recordings. Amazon will continue to use the data to train its machine learning models, citing the purpose of providing and improving its services.

It's important to note that this settlement with the FTC is separate from another action involving Amazon subsidiary Ring, both of which highlight concerns about inadequate privacy and security protections.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Empowering Complex Payments: Payrails Secures $14.4M for its Advanced Operating System

-
Image
  Enterprises and marketplaces operating across multiple geographies and products have long relied on a hodgepodge of third-party services cobbled together by teams of engineers. These makeshift solutions, akin to Dr. Frankenstein's creations, often suffer from bugs and missing functionality. At worst, their complexity can even conceal malicious activities. Recognizing this disparity, three payments engineers came together to establish Payrails, a startup that has developed a framework for building and operating stable enterprise payment services. Today, the company announces a funding round of $14.4 million, driven by leading investor EQT Ventures, along with participation from General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, and HV Capital. This "seed extension" follows the original seed round of $6.4 million, led by A16Z and HV Capital, which we covered last year when Payrails emerged from stealth mode. Although the startup does not disclose its valuation, CEO Orkhan Abdullayev ...
Read more

Bridging the Gap: Minoa SaaS Sales Platform Addresses the Rising Demand for Remote Collaboration

-
Image
  The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted various aspects of business, including the way software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies sell their products. With social distancing measures in place, in-person meetings were replaced by virtual platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Surprisingly, both vendors and buyers found that virtual meetings could be productive, leading to the adoption of remote practices even as COVID restrictions ease. Recognizing the gap in existing sales tools for online meetings, Richard Einhorn and Max Elster founded Minoa in 2022 to cater to the growing trend of remote B2B sales. Minoa is a sales platform designed to help SaaS vendors and their customers track the lifecycle of a deal asynchronously. It offers tools for value management, quoting, pricing, and more. What sets Minoa apart from other tools is its focus on including customers in the sales platform, unlike many incumbents that primarily serve vendors. As companies incorporate more specialized SaaS servi...
Read more

Revolutionizing EdTech: Byju's Leaps Forward with Transformer Models in AI Endeavors

-
Image
  Byju's, the edtech giant in India, has introduced three transformer models as part of its "Wiz" suite to enhance its educational services and personalize the learning experience for students. The models leverage AI to support learning and address knowledge gaps. The first model, Badri, predicts when learners might struggle with specific concepts and offers recommendations to address the gaps. MathGPT helps students solve math problems using analogies and visual aids, while TeacherGPT serves as an AI-powered assistant, providing personalized guidance and grading responses. Byju's AI model incorporates students' interests to make learning more engaging. For example, it can use cricket analogies to explain complex concepts to a cricket enthusiast. The transformer models have been trained on the vast amount of data generated by Byju's student base and have an accuracy rate of around 87%. They are designed to align with the respective curriculum and operate withi...
Read more