A Virginia resident sued Amazon on Monday, alleging that Ring doorbell cameras at friends and relatives' homes captured and stored images of his face through a facial recognition feature called "Familiar Faces." The plaintiff, identified as Charles Sigwalt, is seeking class-action status in federal court in Seattle and is asking for at least $5 million in damages for the class.
The complaint claims that Familiar Faces - an optional setting that uses artificial intelligence to identify and remember individuals so notifications can include names when they return to a home or business - retained images of passersby without their consent. According to the filing, those affected "did not consent to have their privacy rights violated at the entrance way." The suit also asserts that "millions of other Americans passed by a Ring security camera and unknowingly had their facial recognition information collected."
Amazon declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The suit, which also seeks unspecified damages for people impacted beyond the class award, arrives amid a series of privacy-related controversies that have dogged Ring, the unit purchased by Amazon in 2018 for $1 billion.
Earlier this year, Ring drew criticism in February over a service promoted during the Super Bowl that it said would help users find lost dogs by activating its neighborhood camera network. Critics and privacy advocates expressed concern that the same capability could be used to surveil entire neighborhoods or larger areas.
Following that backlash, Ring ended an unrelated partnership in February with Flock Safety, a company that deploys license plate readers and cameras for law enforcement use.
Ring has also faced regulatory scrutiny and past enforcement action. In 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reached a $5.8 million settlement with Ring over privacy allegations that the agency said included a former employee spying on female customers in their home bedrooms and bathrooms. The FTC stated that Ring employees had unrestricted access to customers' sensitive video data, allowing employees and contractors to view and download it. Amazon denied any wrongdoing as part of that settlement.
In 2022, U.S. Senator Ed Markey alleged that Ring had violated people's privacy through partnerships with law enforcement that allowed authorities access to some user footage without proper consent.
In the complaint filed on Monday, Sigwalt accused Amazon of a broader privacy failure, saying the company's "conduct here represents a profound privacy failure for millions of people who are now being tracked by Amazon."
Context and implications
- Familiar Faces is presented by Ring as an opt-in feature designed to identify and remember people to improve notification specificity.
- The lawsuit alleges that images of individuals who did not opt in were nonetheless captured and retained by the system.
- The complaint seeks class-action certification and a minimum of $5 million in damages for the class, while also pursuing unspecified damages for those affected beyond the class award.
The complaint and the company's prior regulatory encounters underscore continuing public and political scrutiny over how Ring and similar devices collect, store, and share sensitive video and biometric data.