The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that it will be providing refunds totaling more than $5.6 million to customers who purchased certain home security cameras made by Ring, a company owned by Amazon. This settlement comes after the F.T.C. sued Ring last May, accusing the company of allowing employees and contractors to access customers' private video footage without consent. The agency alleged that Ring used these videos to train computer algorithms and failed to implement proper security measures, leaving customer accounts vulnerable to hacking.

As part of the settlement, Ring paid a fine, deleted unlawfully obtained videos, and established a privacy and security program. The F.T.C. is now using the money from the settlement to send 117,044 PayPal payments to affected customers. Eligible customers should have received an email from the F.T.C. notifying them of the refund. The amount of the refund depends on the type of Ring device owned and the duration of the account.

Ring has stated that it had addressed security issues prior to the F.T.C.'s lawsuit and disagreed with the agency's characterization of its practices. The company also mentioned that it promptly responded to a separate incident in 2019 where bad actors used stolen credentials to access certain customer accounts.

Customers who received a PayPal payment from the F.T.C. should have also received an email from PayPal confirming the refund. Payments must be redeemed by May 22, or they will be returned to the F.T.C. For any questions about the refund process, customers can contact Rust Consulting, the refund administrator, or visit the F.T.C.'s FAQ page on refunds.