LONDON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a 5.8 million U.S. dollars settlement with Amazon.com over the violation of customers' privacy by the company's unit, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
A former employee of Amazon.com's Ring doorbell camera unit spied for months on female customers in 2017 with cameras placed in bedrooms and bathrooms, the British media said, citing the court filing from the FTC.
The FTC said Ring gave employees unrestricted access to customers' sensitive video data. "As a result of this dangerously overbroad access and lax attitude toward privacy and security, employees and third-party contractors were able to view, download, and transfer customers' sensitive video data," the commission was quoted as saying.
Reuters said the FTC settlement is the agency's latest effort to hold Big Tech accountable for policies which critics say place profits from data collection ahead of privacy.
The media added that Amazon, which purchased Ring in April 2018, pledged to make some changes in its practices.
