Amazon was sued over alleged 'backdoor access' to consumer data

A group of consumers sued Amazon Wednesday for allegedly getting “backdoor access” to their data and tracking their location.

The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court, claims the retail giant “surreptitiously collects sensitive data from consumers through its Amazon (AMZN0.00%) Ads SDK,” which is code it gives to app developers.

It said that “Amazon designed the Amazon Ads SDK so that Amazon could collect sensitive consumer data from consumers...despite Amazon not having their consent to collect such data.”

The class action suit says that while consumers can choose to allow an app with Amazon Ads SDK to track their location, they cannot opt out of Amazon tracking them.

“At no point does Amazon inform consumers that its SDK is collecting their sensitive geolocation data, nor does it prompt consumers to grant Amazon permission to access or collect any data whatsoever,” the suit alleged.

The lead plaintiff in the suit is Felix Kolotinsky of San Mateo, California. He claims Amazon obtained his data from the Speedtest by Ookla (ZD0.00%) app, which uses Amazon Ad SDK.

His lawyers claim Amazon’s actions violate California law and are seeking monetary damages for Californians who use apps with the Amazon Ads SDK.

Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.