Amazon Class Action Lawsuit

Amazon must face a US Class Action Lawsuit over Alexa users' privacy. Attorney Jeremy Rosenthal joins us to discuss this case and whether or not your Alexa is sharing information. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So just how much does that smart speaker know and
what of that is it sharing? Amazon must face a
US class class action after Alexis users privacy. This is
from a federal judge and this is West Michigan's Morning News.
See Kelly and Brett Keita. Our friend Jeremy Rosenthal with
Texas defense firm dot Com Back, Jeremy, thanks for doing

(00:21):
this today.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
We make jokes about, you know, talking about something and
then you getting served an ad for it in the
you know, next half hour or whatever. But why a lawsuit?
And what personal stuff could we be sharing and not
know about it?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
That's the question, isn't it. The federal lawsuit alleges that
a l e x A because I'm in proximity to mine.
So she's listening to West Michigan's Morning News at the
moment that they're recording us when we're not authorizing it
to you, right you author is it through the wakeward

(01:02):
And that's kind of a proprietary thing. We don't know
exactly how that works. I mean, we're sort of told
generalities about how it works. But the lawsuit says, look,
it's listening to you, and when you multiply that times,
billions of millions of people, you get billions of conversations,
and data is the new gold. So if you're in

(01:25):
the business of data mining, then then Amazon might be
doing pretty well these days. So that's kind of the
crux of the case.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
How do you prove it? What kind of accountability is there?
I mean, I've been sitting in my own living room
when mine will light up and I think, what the
heck prompted that? And how long has that been going on?
And what did I just say? You know that sort
of thing?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Right, The lawsuit was filed in twenty twenty one, so
it's already been four years. It's just now got certified
this week to be a class action. That's where Amazon
was trying to cut this thing off. Right, means that
you had a handful of plaintiffs that had brought the student.
Now you and I could conceivably join that and get
a check for eighteen cents one day, and we laugh

(02:11):
and we joke about that. But that adds up and
that turns into real money for Amazon, and that's, in theory,
the disincentive for them to gain the market.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
So I have to prove that there's been some sort
of damage to me, how do I know that something
untoward has happened from that relationship with my smart speaker.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
According to Washington state law, if your privacy has been invaded,
you have been damaged. As a matter of law, you
don't have to necessarily prove that you lost money. You
don't have to prove that your grandma's recipe is out

(02:57):
in the public now for everybody to know. You don't
have to prove those types of things. You only have
to prove that it recorded you when you didn't want to.
And a legislature says, look, that's enough. That's that. That's
enough to show that you get some kind of compensation,
all right.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
That was my question is you know, is it an
opt in when you buy that? You know what I mean,
because you don't have to have that in your home,
and there's yeah, and there's always the opt in question
of you know, whenever we get emails or anything on
you can opt in or opt out. So that was
my thing is with Alexa, I don't remember opting into anything.
You just kind of turn it on and go right.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Well, when you when you go to the app, you
you click a bunch of yeses.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Usually I would think so I think that's where they're
saying that you've you've authorized this thing to to sort
of spy on you, uh, to some degree, right when
you say the wake word. But not but not when
you're just sort of right, not when you're talking about
beating Ohio State. So, and it's getting bett it's getting
betting tips from you, right, and then the next thing,

(03:58):
you know, you're going to get adds for wolverine gear.
That's how this thing's gonna work.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Does anyone outside of the tinfoil hat that I wear
around my house? Does anybody prescribe anything to still keep
the thing in your house and be assured that it's
not doing stuff you don't want it to do.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
You have to trust Amazon, and Amazon will be the
first to promise you that they use this technology and
their powers only for good and thank goodness, because man,
would it suck if they stole our data?

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Wait? Wait, who's good?

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Is it? Like?

Speaker 3 (04:35):
If Sandy and my wife Jen are buying things from
Amazon that's not good for us?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Determine the good right right right there?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
We go?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yes, So this is a welcome, Welcome to court.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Texas Defense sperm dot COM's Jeremy Rosenthal always great stuff.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Thank you have a great morning.