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- 16:02, 9 MAY 2019
- Updated16:35, 9 MAY 2019
Amazon has been accused of violating children's privacy with its Alexa-powered Echo speakers.
A group of privacy and child-advocacy groups has submitted a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), claiming the tech giant is improperly recording and saving children's conversations.
The complaint centres around Amazon's Echo Dot Kids Edition – a version of the internet-connected speaker that is specifically aimed at children and not yet available in the UK.
Like the grown-up version of the Echo speaker, the device records what users say when it hears the "wake word" – Alexa – and then uses artificial intelligence to respond to their requests.
For example, it can answer questions, play games, tell jokes, read books, play music, and remember information requested by the child.
When parents purchase the Echo Dot Kids Edition, they also get a one-year subscription to Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited, provides access to entertainment including books, music, and "kid skills", as well as parental controls.
The groups complaining include the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Consumer Action, Parents Across America and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
They claim the Echo Dot Kids Edition violates the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in several ways.
COPPA requires that operators of online services aimed at children provide specific notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting data from a child.
The complaint claims that Amazon's notice to parents is "unclear and confusing", and that its system for obtaining parental consent is "inadequate".
"It merely requires someone to input a credit or debit card number and a CVV security code," the complaint states.
"It does not verify that the person 'consenting' is the child's parent.
"Nor does Amazon verify that the person consenting is even an adult because it allows the use of debit gift cards and does not require a financial transaction for verification."
The complaint also accuses Amazon of keeping the audio recordings of children's voices far longer than necessary – something that COPPA prohibits.
"Unless a parent deletes the recording of a child's voice, Amazon will retain those recordings indefinitely," it states.
"Even when parents make an effort to delete some or all of the recordings of their child, Amazon does not necessarily delete all of the child's personal information.
"Our testing found that deleting the voice recordings does not delete the transcription of those recordings, which may contain personal information identified with a specific child or device."
Finally, COPPA requires operators to inform parents of their right to review personal information submitted by their child, and to allow them to stop any further collection and delete personal information already collected.
The complaint accuses Amazon of making the deletion of personal information "unduly burdensome for parents".
"The only way that parents can find out what personal information Amazon has collected from their child is to listen to every recording," the report alleges.
"Moreover, the only way for a parent to delete all of their child’s personal information is to delete the child’s profile by contacting customer support.
"In that case, the child would lose access to the FreeTime content, and parents would lose access to the parental controls."
The complaint calls on the FTC to investigate Amazon's practices and take action to ensure compliance with COPPA.
Responding to the complaint, an Amazon spokesperson insisted that "FreeTime on Alexa and Echo Dot Kids Edition are compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)".
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