Amazon has been slapped with a mega $25 million fine for failing to delete children’s data on its famous Alexa voice assistant.
The tech giant will not only be liable to pay this massive fine but it would also be handling data belonging to children in a better manner. This means introducing some major amendments to the popular voice assistant that has been a global sensation for so many users.
The changes are expected to take place by next year’s end and the fine is expected to be paid by the end of next week, it added. This all happened to be a part of a new settlement that received approval by the end of the week and it was announced by a federal judge.
This comes right after we saw the firm achieve a settlement that was sent out to the FTC by one coalition comprising privacy advocates that accused the firm of grabbing a hold of kids’ data in the form of voice records. Similarly, it kept transcripts for that data and kept it for a huge period, much longer than is necessary and outlined by the Children’s Online Act.
The law was rolled out by the end of 1998 and outlined how retaining data belonging to kids and any personal information stats about them should only be done when information is getting collected.
Some leading lawsuits put out against the firm were seen coming into play during this period.
While Amazon insists that it always follows the law, one thing is for sure. It’s usually caught in the middle of some major lawsuits, despite claiming its innocence across the board. Moreover, the settlement in this case means altering how the data of users gets handled.
So many parents are working hard and they feel they have the right to their kids’ data as compared to the company. From their voice to their location, and more- plenty of queries were coming into play regarding how reliable Alexa is as a voice assistant.
Now the question on so many people’s minds is what exactly are the kinds of changes we can anticipate. Well, the firm feels it’s time to produce and incorporate a new means for data deletion that has to do with kids below the age of 13 that haven’t used it in the past 18 months or so. Moreover, it’s going to alert parents whenever they end up doing so.
On the other hand, the tech giant would need to flag settlements regarding the famous Parent Dashboard. This is where we’ll find adults putting out new kinds of limits regarding kids’ usage of the services put out by Amazon.
Meanwhile, one rep for the firm says it’s going to add a new notice that would arise there speaking about these new terms.
Amazon released its own synopsis on the matter where it denied breaking any rules and says it's making changes to its already secure and safe maneuvers. It hopes to delete all child profiles which are super inactive for so long, until or unless you see parents and guardians opting to keep those.
It’s also interesting to note how Alexa and related products have been questionable for so long in terms of how safe they can be and how much privacy they really do offer. Yet, the firm is to attain success in terms of monetization of this infamous voice assistant.
Some experts are calling the service an entire money pit where the firm is literally wasting billions as users are now gaining more interest in the famous Echo product by the firm.
Read next: American Citizens Want Google To Be Held Accountable By The Court Of Law For Violating Privacy Laws
The tech giant will not only be liable to pay this massive fine but it would also be handling data belonging to children in a better manner. This means introducing some major amendments to the popular voice assistant that has been a global sensation for so many users.
The changes are expected to take place by next year’s end and the fine is expected to be paid by the end of next week, it added. This all happened to be a part of a new settlement that received approval by the end of the week and it was announced by a federal judge.
This comes right after we saw the firm achieve a settlement that was sent out to the FTC by one coalition comprising privacy advocates that accused the firm of grabbing a hold of kids’ data in the form of voice records. Similarly, it kept transcripts for that data and kept it for a huge period, much longer than is necessary and outlined by the Children’s Online Act.
The law was rolled out by the end of 1998 and outlined how retaining data belonging to kids and any personal information stats about them should only be done when information is getting collected.
Some leading lawsuits put out against the firm were seen coming into play during this period.
While Amazon insists that it always follows the law, one thing is for sure. It’s usually caught in the middle of some major lawsuits, despite claiming its innocence across the board. Moreover, the settlement in this case means altering how the data of users gets handled.
So many parents are working hard and they feel they have the right to their kids’ data as compared to the company. From their voice to their location, and more- plenty of queries were coming into play regarding how reliable Alexa is as a voice assistant.
Now the question on so many people’s minds is what exactly are the kinds of changes we can anticipate. Well, the firm feels it’s time to produce and incorporate a new means for data deletion that has to do with kids below the age of 13 that haven’t used it in the past 18 months or so. Moreover, it’s going to alert parents whenever they end up doing so.
On the other hand, the tech giant would need to flag settlements regarding the famous Parent Dashboard. This is where we’ll find adults putting out new kinds of limits regarding kids’ usage of the services put out by Amazon.
Meanwhile, one rep for the firm says it’s going to add a new notice that would arise there speaking about these new terms.
Amazon released its own synopsis on the matter where it denied breaking any rules and says it's making changes to its already secure and safe maneuvers. It hopes to delete all child profiles which are super inactive for so long, until or unless you see parents and guardians opting to keep those.
It’s also interesting to note how Alexa and related products have been questionable for so long in terms of how safe they can be and how much privacy they really do offer. Yet, the firm is to attain success in terms of monetization of this infamous voice assistant.
Some experts are calling the service an entire money pit where the firm is literally wasting billions as users are now gaining more interest in the famous Echo product by the firm.
Read next: American Citizens Want Google To Be Held Accountable By The Court Of Law For Violating Privacy Laws
