Amazon and Alexa probed for alleged privacy violations

Amazon.com and its Internet software subsidiary, Alexa, are being investigated by US federal regulators for allegedly violating online privacy laws.

Alexa, which Amazon.com acquired last June, provides Web navigation services to provide Internet browser users with information about the websites they are viewing. It also suggests related sites.

But the claim is that Alexa's software secretly intercepted personal data, including various electronic communications, and sent it to third parties such as Amazon.com.

The allegation is based on the findings of Richard Smith, a computer security consultant who claims to have discovered a potential privacy breach in the way Alexa tracks Web pages to provide the related links to other web sites.

Alexa's software, he attests, records the entire address of each Web page, but a problem arises because the addresses of some pages may contain customer data.

Both Amazon and Alexa claim that personal data gathered by Alexa remains only in its databases and is not linked to any others.

According to a filing by Amazon with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, Amazon.com and Alexa are now being scrutinised for allegedly breaking two federal laws and the California Business and Professional Code.

Amazon.com also said in the filing that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which oversees the implementation of antitrust and consumer protection laws, was conducting an informal inquiry into some of Alexa's business practices, following two lawsuits filed against Alexa last year. They are currently seeking class action status.

The suits allege that Amazon collected more information than it disclosed and invaded user privacy, and the FTC is seeking to determine whether Alexa engaged in "unfair or deceptive acts".

FTC officials were unavailable for comment, but an Amazon spokesperson said the company was responding to its requests for information. "Nobody is more concerned about privacy than Alexa and Amazon," he said.