Amazon's Ring to stop allowing police to request camera footage from users'

The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $5.6 million in refunds to people who purchased Amazon's Ring camera during a time when the devices were potentially being used to violate their privacy.

Payments are coming to 117,044 consumers who had certain types of Ring devices, the result of a settlement of allegations Amazon let employees and contractors access people's videos, the FTC said in a statement earlier this week.

Recipients will receive a PayPal payment of $150.00 or $47.70, the agency told CBS MoneyWatch. The refund amount depended on several factors, including the type of Ring device owned and when the consumer had the account.

People should redeem their PayPal payment within 30 days, the FTC said.

The refunds come nearly a year after the regulator and Amazon settled claims the company failed to protect customer security, leading in some cases to hackers threatening or sexually propositioning Ring owners.

In a statement to CBS News at the time, Amazon said its Ring division "promptly addressed these issues on its own years ago, well before the FTC began its inquiry." 

"While we disagree with the FTC's allegations and deny violating the law, this settlement resolves this matter so we can focus on innovating on behalf of our customers," the e-commerce company said. 

Some of the allegations outlined by the lawsuit occurred prior to Amazon's acquisition of Ring in 2018. For instance, an alleged incident with an employee who viewed videos belonging to 81 women occurred in 2017. 

Kate Gibson

Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York.