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On Monday, a Virginia man filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon Ring, claiming its facial recognition feature violated his privacy and that of millions of other Americans. The lawsuit, filed by Charles Sigwalt in Seattle federal court, seeks at least $5 million from the retail giant.
The case focuses on a Ring feature that uses AI to detect and remember the faces of friends and family. The feature, which arrived on Ring security cameras and video doorbells in 2025, is available only to Ring subscribers who opt into both Familiar Faces and smart alerts on their Ring device.
When Familiar Faces is activated, Ring sends personalized phone alerts that identify people by name (based on the profiles users create) when those individuals approach a home.
The problem is that the facial recognition software scans and categorizes everyone who passes by the camera, not just family and friends who might have profiles. Ring can also detect the faces of nearby drivers, mail carriers and strangers, potentially even people walking down a nearby street (aided by the newest 2K and 4K resolution devices Ring released, which can gather finer details farther away).
Recently out of beta, Familiar Faces is a very specific use of AI recognition.
Sigwalt’s lawsuit focuses on consent and the storage of biometric data. Although laws can vary by state and haven’t always kept pace with this new technology, recording faces without consent could violate privacy rights. In Washington state, where Amazon has one of its headquarters, consumers have some control over access to their personal data.
Another sticking point is that the Ring app doesn’t automatically delete the faces it captures but keeps them for 30 days. While Ring says this face data is encrypted and stored so users can take their time creating face profiles, it’s unclear whether the data can be used to train its AI features or for other purposes.
Digital rights groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation highlight the risks of Ring’s Familiar Faces feature, noting that your biometric data, including a faceprint, “are some of the most sensitive pieces of data that a company can collect.” Facial recognition software has long been associated with mass surveillance and discrimination and could also pose security risks, like being leaked in a data breach.
This lawsuit follows numerous controversies about Ring’s privacy policies and data-sharing practices, particularly with law enforcement. Earlier this year, a Super Bowl ad for Search Party, an AI feature marketed as being able to automatically recognize lost dogs, sparked tremendous backlash, leading some users to smash their Ring cameras on social media.
Amazon Ring declined to comment on this story.
Ring is just one company using face recognition
The use of AI in facial recognition technology for home security cameras goes far beyond Amazon’s line.
Google Nest, for example, has had its own Familiar Face technology for years, which works very similarly to Ring’s feature, with a Face Library you can add to when it recognizes a new face. Arlo has an optional Person Recognition feature that uses multiple data inputs to identify specific people. A number of smart lock brands, like SwitchBot, have also begun adopting facial recognition technology.
So far, no notable lawsuits have succeeded in arguing that this technology violates broad privacy laws because security cameras are typically located on private property and designed to look out into public areas like sidewalks, where there’s not really an expectation of privacy. That’s one argument Flock surveillance cameras also rely on.
But some legislation has proven effective. Cities like Portland, Oregon, and states like Illinois have adopted strict biometric privacy laws that make it legally difficult to offer facial-recognition technology in home security devices. Google Nest and other companies have disabled familiar-face features there to avoid legal problems like the Ring lawsuit.
It’s unclear how this suit will play out, but it could change how Ring addresses its security features going forward.
If you’re concerned about surveillance, I have a full guide on how to turn off unpopular Ring features.
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