Amazon Alexa, known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant developed by Amazon, and first used in the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Echo Dot smart speakers Shutterstock

Amazon Alexa, known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant developed by Amazon, and first used in the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Echo Dot smart speakers Shutterstock

In a story published on Tuesday, it wrote that the Luxembourg-based CNPD was the “lead supervisory authority for Amazon in the EU,” making it responsible for handling complaints and coordinating investigations on behalf of other member states.

The author wrote: “At this point it has not launched a formal privacy probe.”

A CNPD spokesperson confirmed to Delano on Wednesday that as the “lead authority within the EU cooperation mechanism on data protection,” the body was in touch with Amazon regarding the matter.

He said: “Unfortunately, at this stage, we cannot comment further about this case as we are bound by the obligation of professional secrecy.

“As a general rule, we refer all interested parties to contact the data controller directly to obtain further information. In case the information provided to a concerned data subject is not satisfactory, the latter can file a complaint with our authority or his national supervisory authority.”

Voice reviews

In April 2019, Bloomberg reported that Amazon had employed auditors as part of a voice review process for perfecting software algorithms to listen to recordings of users of Amazon’s Echo home speakers, which are powered by the Alexa digital assistant. At the time, Amazon did not make it explicit in its policy that humans listened to some recordings heard by Alexa.

Similar recordings and reviews were also known to be conducted by Apple in relation to its Siri virtual assistant and Google. Both firms announced they had suspended such checks, according to the BBC story.

CNPD quotes were added at 5.50pm on 8 August.