Lawsuit claims Amazon-owned Ring should pay Americans whose faces are scanned by Familiar Faces feature without consent

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote in November that Ring's Familiar Faces feature scans "many people who have not consented to a face scan, including friends and family, political canvassers, postal workers, delivery drivers, children selling cookies, or maybe even some people passing on the sidewalk," and urged regulators to investigate and protect people's privacy.

According to Senator Ed Markey's February 2026 letter, Amazon revealed that Ring's privacy protections apply only to device owners who opt in to Familiar Faces, while individuals unknowingly subjected to facial recognition have no right to consent, and people seeking deletion of their biometric data must request removal from each individual Ring device owner.

Amazon last year introduced an AI-powered "Search Party" feature for finding lost pets, which led to backlash after a Super Bowl ad; Amazon subsequently ended a deal with Flock Safety that would have sent Ring customer videos to police departments. In 2023, the FTC filed a lawsuit accusing Ring of invading users' privacy; Amazon agreed in a settlement to pay $5.8 million for customer refunds and implement privacy and security controls.