The Federal Trade Commission Issues Refunds to Ring Camera Customers
The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is distributing over $5.6 million in refunds to individuals who bought Amazon's Ring camera during a period when there were concerns about privacy violations.
A total of 117,044 consumers who owned specific Ring devices will be receiving payments as part of a settlement. The FTC alleged that Amazon permitted its employees and contractors to access users' videos without authorization.
According to the FTC, recipients of the refunds will get either $150.00 or $47.70 through PayPal, depending on the type of Ring device they had and the timing of their account creation.
Individuals are advised to claim their PayPal payments within 30 days, as stated by the FTC.
This refund initiative follows a resolution between the regulator and Amazon, addressing accusations that the company failed to safeguard customer data, resulting in instances of hackers making threats or engaging in inappropriate behavior towards Ring owners.
Amazon responded to CBS News by stating that its Ring division had already taken steps to address these issues internally years before the FTC's investigation began.
"Despite our disagreement with the FTC's accusations and our denial of any legal violations, this settlement allows us to put this issue behind us and concentrate on advancing for the benefit of our customers," stated the e-commerce firm.
Several of the claims detailed in the legal action took place before Amazon's purchase of Ring in 2018. For example, an alleged event involving an employee who accessed videos of 81 women occurred in 2017.
