Amazon's smart doorbell company, Ring, has agreed to settle a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission alleging that it had "unreasonable" data security and privacy practices, according to a Wednesday filing in the US District Court for Washington D.C.
As part of the settlement, Ring has agreed to pay $5.8 million and implement a new data security program, according the filing.
Amazon acquired Ring in 2018, paving the way for the e-commerce giant to get into the home security business. In addition to video doorbells, Ring makes indoor and outdoor security cameras as well as alarm systems.
The FTC alleged in the lawsuit that Ring gave employees unrestricted access to videos from customers' home security systems. In one instance, the complaint states, one Ring employee viewed thousands of video recordings from at least 81 female users between June and August 2017.
"Only after the supervisor noticed that the male employee was only viewing videos of 'pretty girls' did the supervisor escalate the report of misconduct," the FTC alleged in the complaint. "Only at that point did Ring review a portion of the employee's activity and, ultimately, terminate his employment."
Reps for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
