Recently,Reuters released a report detailing Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) years-long campaign to strip consumers of privacy protections. Intracompany documents reportedly acknowledge efforts to weaken privacy protections in 25 states using more than three dozen bills. Now, lawmakers are calling for broad action on privacy protections.
"Amazon shamefully launched a campaign to squash privacy legislation while its devices listen to and watch our lives," wrote Senator Richard Blumenthal, CT-D, on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). "This is now the classic Big Tech move: deploy money and armies of lobbyists to fight meaningful reforms in the shadows but claim to support them publicly."
For years, Congress has failed to pass any privacy legislation due to bi-partisan gridlock. In the meantime, Amazon has worked with Jay Carney, former-communications director for then-Vice President Joe Biden, to create a state-level lobbying machine.
In states like Virginia, Amazon first spent years slowly ramping up political donations before finally proposing privacy bills drafted by Amazon itself. In other states, like California, the company fought back against proposed legislation that would have restricted Amazon's access and collection of voice recording data.
"Change or block U.S. and E.U. regulation/legislation that would impede growth for Alexa-powered devices," reads a list of executive goals included in a 2018 Amazon internal document.
According to other company documents, Amazon was able to win enough exemptions to a Washington privacy bill regulating biometric data that the law had "little, if any," effect on the company's practices. Amazon is a Washington-based company.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat in Washington's neighboring state of Oregon, said in a statement that big tech companies like Amazon have been "spending millions to weaken state laws," and now hope to weaken federal legislation "until it's worthless."
"Congress needs to prove Amazon wrong, and pass legislation that finally stops massive corporations from abusing and exploiting our personal data," the Senator wrote.
According to Reuters, its report was based on interviews with more than 70 officials, advocates, and lobbyists, as well as "hundreds of internal Amazon documents".
During an interview with Reuters in August, CEO Amazon Andy Jassy said that the company has "always been very passionate about the privacy of our customers."
In its defense, Amazon said in a statement that it is committed to protecting user privacy and does not sell user data.
"The premise of this story is flawed and includes reporting that relies on early, incomplete drafts of documents to draw incorrect conclusions," the statement reads. "We know we must get privacy right in order to meet our customers' high expectations."
The company has gone on to say that it would prefer federal legislation over the current "patchwork" of state laws, saying it supports legislation that "requires transparency about data practices, prohibits the sale of personal data without consent, and ensures that consumers have the right to request access to and deletion of their personal information."
"What they mean is that they support privacy legislation that protects their profits and their right to mine consumers' data, including voice recordings and facial scans," Rep. and House consumer protection subcommittee chair Jan Schakowsky, IL-D said in a statement. "Congress is not convinced nor are we intimidated."