Amazon.com was sued on Wednesday by consumers who accused the retail giant to secretly track their movements through their cell phones and the sale of data that collects.
According to a proposed collective action at the Federal Court of San Francisco, Amazon obtained “backdoor access” to consumer phones, providing tens of thousands of application developers with code known as Amazon Ads SDK to be incorporated into your applications.
This allegedly allowed Amazon to collect a huge amount of date and time registration geolocation data on where consumers live, work, buy and visit, revealing confidential information such as religious affiliations, sexual guidance and health concerns.
“Amazon has effectively fingerprint consumers and has correlated a large amount of personal information about them entirely without the knowledge and consent of consumers,” the complaint said.
The complaint was filed by Felix Kolotinsky, from San Mateo, California, who said Amazon collected his personal information through the “Speedtest by Ookla” app on its phone.
He said that Amazon’s conduct violated California’s criminal law and a state law against access to unauthorized computers and seeking damage not specified for millions of Californians.
The Seattle -based Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comments. The author’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for additional comments.
Individuals and regulators are increasingly complaining that companies are trying to profit from the information collected without the consent of cell phones.
On January 13, the state of Texas sued Allstate for allegedly tracking drivers through cell phones, using data to increase prizes or denying coverage and selling data to other insurers.
Allstate said your data collection is in accordance with all laws and regulations. At least eight similar private processes against Allstate were later filed.
The case is Kolotinsky against Amazon.com Inc et al, US District Court, Northern California, 25-00931.
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