Hello, The holiday season might be over…. but our Amazon privacy wish list has been left untouched. Our wish list was long, but we didn’t want to be greedy – so we settled on a common sense “present” that we could all agree on: for Amazon to protect children’s privacy. With home devices, e-readers, and tablets increasingly geared towards kids, Amazon’s ability to mine children’s personal data is a huge problem. And with more and more of these “smart” home products having reached the hands of children this Christmas, Amazon’s poor privacy practices are unacceptable. Fortunately, a new executive is now in charge of Amazon’s Devices & Services division – and together, we need to send him a strong message that protecting children’s privacy must be a top priority. Read the email we sent recently below to learn more about this issue and sign the petition to tell Amazon to respect children’s privacy. Thank you for everything you do for the internet, Christian Bock Head of Supporter Engagement Mozilla
Our original email to you about this campaign: Hello, Amazon's Alexa is getting a new boss. Let's ask him to protect children's privacy in Amazon devices. A new executive is coming in to lead Amazon's Devices & Services division, which includes Alexa, Echo, Ring Video Doorbells, Fire TV, Fire tablets, Kindles, and other devices and "smart" home products. And we think he needs to make protecting people’s privacy a top priority. That has to start with children’s privacy. Amazon has agreed to pay a $25 million USD fine to U.S. regulators for keeping Alexa recordings of children's voices and geolocation data indefinitely - in some cases even after parents had asked for them to be deleted. With smart home devices, e-readers, and tablets geared towards kids, Amazon's ability to mine children’s personal data is a big problem. This is not acceptable, and we need to make sure we send a strong message to the new Amazon leadership: Children’s privacy needs to be protected in all Amazon devices. Sign Mozilla’s petition now and tell Amazon's new executive to protect children’s privacy in Amazon devices! The online shopping giant has never been good at respecting consumers’ privacy. In Mozilla's *Privacy Not Included holiday shopping guide we published last week, Amazon tops our worst-of list. They do a terrible job at respecting and protecting our privacy on multiple fronts. And this is the absolute minimum of what Amazon needs to do immediately: - Do not retain voice recordings on Alexa for Kids and other products aimed at children, including audio files, transcripts and geolocation information by default
- Honour parents’ requests to delete their children’s personal data
- Identify and delete inactive child profiles
Sign the petition now and ask Amazon to respect children’s privacy! Now that there's a new leader for the Amazon products that go into peoples' homes, there are big windows of opportunity for: - The new leader of Amazon's hardware division, who can fix the worst privacy problems and start his tenure by showing us that privacy is something Amazon cares about;
- Amazon employees, who want to make their products less creepy;
- Consumers, who can ask for products that respect everyone’s privacy starting immediately with children.
Mozilla has been keeping a close eye on Amazon, from reviewing Amazon's products in our buyer's guide for the last six years, to exposing security issues with Amazon Ring, or the company’s excessive data sharing with law enforcement. Our Amazon privacy wish list is long, starting with securing common sense privacy features in kids products. We need to keep holding Amazon accountable, and Mozilla supporters across the world can help. Together, let’s seize this rare opportunity to drive real change in Amazon's business practices and make sure it keeps its hands off children's personal data. Sign the petition and tell Amazon to respect children’s privacy. Thank you for everything that you do for the internet, Christian Bock Senior Vice President, Global Advocacy Mozilla |