A Virginia resident filed a class action lawsuit Monday in federal court in Seattle against Amazon, alleging that Ring’s “Familiar Faces” feature collected and stored facial recognition data from millions of people without their knowledge or consent.
The plaintiff, Charles Sigwalt, says Ring cameras scanned his face while visiting friends and family who own Ring devices. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the suit seeks at least $5 million in damages on behalf of a proposed nationwide class.
Familiar Faces, launched by Ring in December 2025, uses artificial intelligence to identify recurring visitors and send specific-name notifications to device owners. Ring users must opt in, but the lawsuit argues that pedestrians, neighbors, and delivery workers who pass Ring-equipped properties have no choice in the matter.
“Millions of other Americans passed by a Ring security camera and unknowingly had their facial recognition information collected,” the complaint states. Sigwalt said Amazon’s conduct “represents a profound privacy failure for millions of people who are now being tracked by Amazon.”
The suit also disputes Amazon’s stated data practices. Amazon said at launch that the system deletes unidentified faces after 30 days, but the complaint alleges Ring retains facial data for up to six months. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
An investigation by Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) in December 2025 revealed that Amazon’s biometric privacy protections only apply to device owners, meaning delivery drivers, neighbors, and passersby face facial scanning on residential routes without baseline protections.
In 2023, Amazon settled a $5.8 million Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint over allegations that Ring employees had unrestricted access to customers’ private video footage. Amazon denied wrongdoing.
SOFX previously reported on Ring’s February 2026 Super Bowl controversy, which drew criticism over the company’s push to expand its neighborhood camera network.
