Bloomberg: Amazon to Let Customers Sue After Thousands of Alexa Complaints

Over the last 16 months, Keller Postman has filed roughly 75,000 individual arbitration claims against Amazon on behalf of Amazon Alexa users who were recorded by the device without permission. As a result, Amazon has stopped requiring its customers to pursue claims in arbitration—customers may now file class-action suits against the company in state or federal court. Previously, claimants were required to enter arbitration as individuals.

By default, Alexa stores voice recordings of unwitting parties and, in some cases, violates state wiretapping laws.

Keller Postman also represents a group of children suing Amazon in federal court for making, analyzing, and retaining voice recordings of minors for its commercial benefit, in violation of state privacy laws. Children do not consent to be recorded and use Alexa without understanding or warning that Amazon is recording and voiceprinting them. The children themselves did not agree to arbitration agreements their parents had agreed to as a condition of using the software. And Amazon’s terms of service fail to obtain consent from the children’s parents or guardians.

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*As of April 2022, the firm has changed its name from Keller Lenkner to Keller Postman.