WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission will begin sending more than $5.6 million in refunds to Ring customers as part of a settlement with the company that allowed employees and contractors access to customers' private videos.
The money comes from a settlement with Amazon, which owns the smart-camera company, over accusations of privacy violations.
The multi-million-dollar agreement comes after a 2023 complaint that Ring's employees and contractors were able to watch private videos recorded on the company's commercially available indoor cameras, and that Ring failed to implement security measures to keep hackers out of customer accounts.
Ring is most commonly known for their doorbell cameras, but the company also produces a wide range of products for use indoors. These indoor cameras, the subject of the 2023 complaint, are often an inexpensive option for homeowners and renters to monitor their property and pets while away. The cheapest of the devices cost about $20, and Amazon often puts them on sale during Black Friday and "Prime Day" promotions throughout the year.
In a statement, the Federal Trade Commission said Ring "deceived its customers by failing to restrict employees’ and contractors’ access to its customers’ videos, using its customer videos to train algorithms without consent, and failing to implement security safeguards. These practices led to egregious violations of users’ privacy."
FTC Ring refund eligibility
According to the federal agency, 117,044 customers who had certain types of Ring devices, including indoor cameras, will receive payments through PayPal. The agency confirmed that those receiving payments were notified Wednesday by e-mail.
Customers can see how many recipients are in their state and how much money will go to recipients in each state on a payment map maintained by the FTC.
The median refund for the settlement is around $48. Customers are being encouraged to redeem the PayPal refund within 30 days of receiving it.
Eligible customers will automatically receive the payment and shouldn't need to submit a claim, unlike class action settlements. According to the FTC's website, in cases like this it typically relies on a list of customers from the company to send out refunds.
Amazon bought California-based Ring in 2018, and many of the violations cited by the FTC in their initial complaint predate the acquisition.
Amazon said it disagreed with the FTC’s claims about the cameras and denied violating the law. But said the settlement would “put these matters behind us.”