WASHINGTON – Amazon has responded to a letter sent by U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who pressed the company in May for information about the privacy and data security practices for Alexa devices. Sen. Coons’ letter followed reporting indicating that Amazon stores and indefinitely preserves text transcripts of user voice recordings, a practice that potentially puts users’ privacy at risk.
To read Sen. Coons’ original letter, click here.
Amazon’s response can be found here.
“I appreciate that Amazon responded promptly to my concerns, and I’m encouraged that their answers demonstrate an understanding of the importance of and a commitment to protecting users’ personal information. However, Amazon’s response leaves open the possibility that transcripts of user voice interactions with Alexa are not deleted from all of Amazon’s servers, even after a user has deleted a recording of his or her voice,” said Senator Coons. “What’s more, the extent to which this data is shared with third parties, and how those third parties use and control that information, is still unclear. The American people deserve to understand how their personal data is being used by tech companies, and I will continue to work with both consumers and companies to identify how to best protect Americans’ personal information.”
