Amazon Canada facing class action over Alexa privacy issues
Canadians could be part of a proposed lawsuit against Amazon Canada, which claims that Alexa stored personal data and violated users’ privacy.
On July 15, Charney Lawyers filed a lawsuit in the B.C. Supreme Court against Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon.com Services, LLC, and Amazon.com.ca ULC. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a B.C. man whose identity has been withheld, as well as other Canadian residents who meet the criteria of the lawsuit. The lawsuit has yet to be certified.
The allegations
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The court document claims that through Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, the e-commerce giant improperly collected, retained, and used user data.
“The lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s Alexa products and services collected significantly more personal information about users than was disclosed, retained that information indefinitely — even after users attempted to delete it, and then used that information for Amazon’s profit to train algorithms, AIs and machine learning software,” reads the class action’s website.
The document details that although Alexa devices are supposed to be alert when it hears “wake,” some users found parts of their conversations recorded when they didn’t intend to interact with Alexa.
Before 2020, users also had no way of deleting their data from interactions with Alexa.
“It wasn’t until 2020 that Amazon introduced a feature that purportedly allowed users to have control of their data and delete information based on their interactions with Alexa,” reads the document. “However, until on or about July 19, 2023, Amazon merely deleted the audio file from its records, but kept the transcription, instructions, and associated metadata.”
Amazon is accused of retaining transcripts and metadata to train its algorithms, AI, and machine learning systems, to create user profiles for targeted advertising. The lawsuit also claims that the company made “explicit commitments” to Alexa users about protecting their privacy. Instead, the lawsuit alleges it kept user data indefinitely and failed to fully delete it when requested.
The lawsuit claims that most class members said they wouldn’t have signed up for Alexa if they knew how much personal information Amazon would collect and retain for its own purposes.
The document states, “Had they learned about this after signing up for Alexa, users would have discontinued their accounts.”
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon violated several privacy laws, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which “sets the ground rules for how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of for-profit, commercial activities across Canada.”
Daily Hive has reached out to Amazon Canada for a comment.
Who’s included in the lawsuit?
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The proposed class-action lawsuit includes all Canadian residents with an Alexa user account on or before July 19, 2023.
On behalf of all eligible class members, the plaintiff wants Amazon to admit that it breached users’ confidence and contracts. The lawsuit also seeks general damages, moral damages, compensatory damages, pecuniary damages, or special damages for privacy violations.
Visit the class-action lawsuit’s website for the latest updates.