Amazon Echo / Alexa
Amazon.com, Inc. · Smart Speaker
Staff Reviewed — a person at DeSpy reviewed this rating.
Index
Records voice audio and transcripts treated as biometric data by the FTC, and kept children's voice recordings indefinitely by default until a 2023 $25M COPPA settlement forced deletion practices.
Why this rating
Amazon's Alexa retained children's voice recordings and transcripts indefinitely by default even after parents requested deletion, resulting in a $25 million FTC/DOJ COPPA settlement — a substantiated and severe children's-privacy violation.
What it is
- Microphone
- Requires a cloud account
- Manufacturer
- Amazon.com, Inc.
- Category
- Smart Speaker
- Model years
- 2014-present
- Market status
- Current
- Companion app
- Alexa
The evidence 6
Independent research, regulatory action, lawsuits and journalism about how this device handles personal data — the "what actually happens" axis. Each links to its source.
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FTC and DOJ charged Amazon with violating COPPA by retaining children's Alexa voice recordings indefinitely even after parents asked for deletion, resulting in a $25 million penalty.
Why it matters here: FTC/DOJ settlement is specifically about Alexa's retention of children's voice recordings.
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FTC staff blog detailing how Amazon retained children's voice recordings and transcripts collected through Alexa despite deletion requests.
Why it matters here: FTC staff blog detailing the specific Alexa COPPA violations.
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DOJ press release confirming Amazon's $25 million penalty and required changes to Alexa's handling of children's voice data.
Why it matters here: DOJ press release confirming the $25M penalty and required Alexa changes.
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Official FTC case record for United States v. Amazon.com covering the Alexa children's-privacy violations.
Why it matters here: Official FTC case filing record.
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NPR coverage combining the Ring privacy settlement with the concurrent Alexa children's-privacy settlement announced the same week.
Why it matters here: NPR coverage combining the Alexa COPPA settlement with the concurrent Ring settlement.
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Amazon's own statement responding to and characterizing the FTC/DOJ Alexa children's-privacy settlement.
Why it matters here: Amazon's own response to the settlement.
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Descriptive, cited, not legal advice; ratings are versioned and corrections create a new version. Data from the IoT Info Grabber DB research project, CC BY-SA 4.0.