Your Child’s Echo Point Can Keep Data Even After You Delete It
When Amazon released its children’s version of the Echo Dot smart speaker a year ago , we hoped it would be a technological blessing, not a curse. But as further evidence that personal information is no longer sacred, a complaint filed yesterday with the FTC alleges that the devices are illegally storing children’s data – even after parents tried to delete it.
Child rights and privacy groups, most notably the Campaign for an Ad-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy, filed a 96-page complaint with the FTC alleging in part that:
- Amazon’s personal information verification process places an undue burden on parents. (Parents cannot seek information and must instead read or listen to every voice recording of their child’s interaction with the device in order to view.)
- Amazon’s Parental Consent Mechanism does not guarantee that the consenting person is the parent of the child.
- Amazon does not disclose what “children’s skills” – developed by third parties – collect personal information from children, or what they collect. Parents are encouraged to read each child’s privacy policy, but the vast majority do not have an individual privacy policy .
- Amazon does not notify or obtain parental consent before recording the voices of children who do not live in the home (visiting friends, family, etc.) with the owner of the device. They advertise the availability of technology to create voice profiles for a personalized user experience, but they do not use it to stop the collection of information from unknown children.
- Amazon’s website and literature directs parents attempting to delete information collected about their child to the delete voice recordings page, and do not disclose that deleting voice recordings does not delete basic information.
- Amazon keeps children’s personal information longer than necessary. It only deletes information if the parent explicitly requests deletion by contacting customer service; otherwise, it persists forever.
To further prove their point, the CCFC conducted a test in which the child told Alexa to “remember” a fictitious name, social security number, phone number, address, and food allergy. Alexa memorized and repeated the information, despite several attempts by an adult to delete or edit it.
In response to the complaint, an Amazon spokesperson said in an email, “FreeTime on Alexa and Echo Dot Kids Edition are compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA),” and directed users for more information on privacy practices here . This rep also later shared this statement , which specifically addresses some of the CCFC’s complaints.
(Updated at 9:03 am on May 10 and includes a link to Amazon’s more detailed statement.)