Dusevic & Garcha has filed the within proposed consumer protection and right to privacy multi-jurisdictional class proceeding involves the Defendants’, AMAZON.COM, INC.’s, AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC’s, and AMAZON.COM.CA ULC’s (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Amazon,” unless referred to individually or otherwise), practice of using their cloud-based voice artificial intelligence (“AI”) and virtual assistant technology known as “Alexa” to unlawfully record, collect, retain, use and/or disclose the Plaintiff’s and putative class members’ private and confidential conversations without their knowledge and/or consent.

Following a complaint filed by United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) alleging that the Defendants, Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC, unlawfully collected, retained, and/or used information obtained from the users of Alexa, on July 19, 2023, the DOJ and the Defendants, Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC, entered into a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Civil Penalty Judgement requiring the Defendant, Amazon, to overhaul its information retention practices and implement stringent privacy safeguards relating to Alexa.

Between the time the Defendant, Amazon, introduced Alexa in 2014 and the date of the Stipulated Order (the “Class Period”), the Defendant, Amazon, collected, retained, and/or used the private and confidential conversations in the form of recordings, transcripts, and associated metadata  (“Voice Information”) of the Plaintiff and putative class members without their knowledge and/or consent for the sole purpose of advancing its own technological development and/or financial gain.  

Further, the Defendant, Amazon, disclosed the unauthorized Voice Information to third parties without the knowledge and/or consent of the Plaintiff and putative class members.

Alexa is an omnipresent feature in the Defendant’s, Amazon’s, products. In addition to the Defendant’s, Amazon’s, products utilizing Alexa – such as Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Sub, Echo Show, Echo Input, Echo Frames eyeglasses, Amazon Fire TV digital media player, Amazon Fire TV sticks, Amazon Alexa Auto, and Amazon Fire tablets – the Defendant, Amazon, has authorized several third-party device manufacturers to offer products that either come with Alexa capability built-in or that are easily integrated with Alexa (collectively, “Alexa Devices”).

To use an Alexa Device, the Defendant, Amazon, requires users to register an account. As such, a user needs a Wi-Fi Internet connection and the Alexa mobile application (“Alexa App”) installed on a compatible device, along with an Amazon account to complete the initial setup and registration process by pairing the device with the Alexa App.

The Defendant, Amazon, uses a method of data-driven machine learning to enhance and develop Alexa’s technology. Such methods of learning are based on information and input obtained from various sources, such as user experiences and preferences.

Many Canadians use Alexa Devices in their homes. People speak to Alexa about a variety of topics, such as asking Alexa to play music, create a to-do list or ask about a medical condition. Most users believe that when they speak to an Alexa Device, their voice is temporarily processed so that Alexa can generate a response or carry out the user’s command, and that the Defendant, Amazon, does not listen to, let alone retain, conversations not intended for Alexa.

Further, users can choose to install what the Defendant, Amazon, calls “skills” on their Alexa Devices. These are functions created by first- and third-party developers which allow Alexa to do more things for the user (such as telling the weather or controlling a thermostat). These increase the number of situations in which a user would interact with Alexa.

During the Class Period, the Defendant, Amazon, misrepresented and/or failed to disclose, or adequately disclose, to the Plaintiff and putative class members that Alexa recorded and collected their Voice Information irrespective of whether the device had been activated through the use of designated “wake words”.

The Defendant, Amazon, designed, programmed and/or used Alexa Devices to record any conversation within its expansive auditory reach without the use of a wake word. In fact, the Defendant, Amazon, specifically patented a “system for capturing and processing portions of a spoken utterance command that may occur before a wake word” or “pre-wake word speech processing.” In other words, the Alexa Devices recorded and processed all conversations prior to any use of a wake word.

Despite Alexa’s expansive built in listening and recording functionalities, the Defendant, Amazon, failed to disclose, or adequately disclose, that it makes, collects, stores, analyzes, and uses recordings of these interactions, and that such activities occur whether or not a user uses a wake word to intentionally communicate with an Alexa Device. In fact, during the Class Period, the Defendant, Amazon, stated that Alexa is not “recording all [your] conversations.”

In particular, during the Class Period, the Defendant’s, Amazon’s, “Alexa, Echo Devices, and Your Privacy,” page posed the question “Is Alexa recording all my conversations?” The Defendant, Amazon, provided the following response:

No. Echo devices are designed to detect only your chosen wake word (Alexa, Amazon, Computer, or Echo). The device detects the wake word by identifying acoustic patterns that match the wake word. No audio is stored or sent to the cloud unless the device detects the wake word (or Alexa is activated by pressing a button).

Further, the Defendant, Amazon, continued to retain the Voice Information of putative class members even after they permanently closed their Amazon account, or requested the deletion of any of their recordings.

By doing so, the Defendant, Amazon, unlawfully, without compensation, and without the knowledge and/or consent of the putative class members amassed a stockpile of data that it used to better train Alexa through data driven machine learning.

In particular, the mechanics of the Defendant’s, Amazon’s, unlawful conduct works as follows. Alexa Devices are designed to record and respond to human commands in a simulated voice. While an Alexa Device is “always on,” it is only supposed to respond to commands after an individual says a wake word, which is usually “Alexa” or “Echo.” Once the Alexa Device recognizes the wake word, it records the ensuing communication. As Alexa Devices were created to capture voices “from anywhere in the room,” they record anything spoken in its vicinity. The Alexa Device then transmits that recording to the Defendant’s Amazon’s, servers for interpretation and processing before receiving the relevant data back in response. The Defendant, Amazon, then retains a copy of that recording on its own servers for later use and commercial benefit, warehousing billions of private and confidential conversations in the process, essentially sacrificing the privacy of the putative class members for its own profits.

Further, the Defendant, Amazon, failed to disclose, or adequately disclose, that it used human and artificial intelligence analysts located in listening facilities to listen to, interpret and evaluate the Voice Information to facilitate improvements to Alexa through machine algorithm learning.

The Defendant’s, Amazon’s, conduct of recording, collecting, retaining, using and/or disclosing private and confidential conversations that were not intended for Alexa amounted to a substantial breach of the Plaintiff’s and putative class members’ right to privacy and directly contravenes federal and provincial privacy legislation and provincial consumer protection legislation. 

The Defendant’s, Amazon’s, alleged unlawful and/or deceptive conduct and breach of the right to privacy resulted in harm and/or damage to the Plaintiff and putative class members.

Further, the Plaintiff and putative class members seek injunctive relief requiring the Defendant, Amazon, to delete or otherwise stop using the Voice Information obtained via recordings of the private and confidential conversations of the Plaintiff and putative class members not intended for Alexa.