Amazon on the hook for predictably revolting use of concealed clothes hook spy cam
- Reference: 1701741675
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/12/05/amazon_camera_hook_case_proceeds/
- Source link:
The minor – said to have been an "aspiring actress" in an amended legal [1]complaint [PDF] filed earlier this year against e-commerce giant Amazon – found that her host "had been using Amazon's spy camera to surreptitiously record her in her private bathroom."
The plaintiff's lawsuit, which last week largely survived Amazon's motion to dismiss the case, seeks to hold the online store liable for selling a product that was advertised for potentially illicit uses and was allegedly flagged to its Product Safety team.
[2]
The "Hidden Clothes Hook Camera" – a covert camera concealed in a clothes hook – was accessible on Amazon's website until recently. It was mentioned by Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman, who [3]wrote about the case on Sunday.
[4]
[5]
The [6]removed listing for the hook-cam, preserved in the Internet Archive's [7]Wayback Machine , is one of [8]many hidden cameras offered for sale on Amazon – most of which promote applications like surveilling home child care workers and security monitoring.
The lawsuit argues that Amazon's Product Safety team was aware the clothes hook camera was intended for unlawful purposes. And to support that claim, it cites marketing that says the hidden camera "'won't attract attention' from the victim, who would presumably hang a towel to be used in drying her undressed body."
[9]
"The intended use of this spy camera as explicitly portrayed in Amazon's online retail store – eg as a towel hook in a bathroom to secretly record undressed individuals without their consent – is a federal felony and also a crime under West Virginia law," the amended complaint states.
[10]Amazon hitches a ride with SpaceX for Project Kuiper launches
[11]AWS exec: 'Our understanding of open source has started to change'
[12]Watchdog claims retaliation from military after questioning cushy federal IT contracts
[13]Now AWS gets a ChatGPT-style Copilot: Amazon Q to be your cloud chat assistant
Further, it's claimed Amazon facilitates such illegal usage by accepting keyword searches like "bathroom spy camera" that indicate unlawful intent.
In late March, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the case on various grounds.
Last week, the judge hearing the case found most of the online retailer's arguments wanting, meaning the case will proceed to discovery and possibly trial. West Virginia District Court judge Robert Chambers let stand four claims – negligence, product liability, [14]torts of outrage (intentional infliction of emotional distress), and civil conspiracy – but dismissed a racketeering claim.
"I know there can be good reasons why someone deploys an in-home surveillance camera, but I’m less clear on the appropriate use cases for a surreptitious hook camera," professor Goldman wrote in his analysis of the judge's [15]order [PDF] rejecting most of Amazon's arguments.
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"The court’s analysis could indicate that all surreptitious hook cameras are categorically illegal to sell, even when buyers plan to use them completely legally. That makes this a dangerous ruling for the spycam industry and for Amazon. At the same time, I’m curious to hear more about what Amazon’s Product Safety team thought when it evaluated this item."
Amazon, which may yet prevail as the case progresses, did not respond to a request for comment. ®
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[1] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wvsd.235914/gov.uscourts.wvsd.235914.10.0.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZW6uenqefnAmQfGrrsQmNgAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2023/12/amazon-may-be-liable-for-merchants-spycam-m-s-v-amazon.htm
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZW6uenqefnAmQfGrrsQmNgAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZW6uenqefnAmQfGrrsQmNgAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.amazon.com/Clothes-Detection-Wireless-Security-Recorder/dp/B0BJDK7VLM
[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20230527030738/https://www.amazon.com/Clothes-Detection-Wireless-Security-Recorder/dp/B0BJDK7VLM/
[8] https://www.amazon.com/ZXWDDP-Security-Recorder-Detection-Needed-Black/dp/B0CC95SXXF/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZW6uenqefnAmQfGrrsQmNgAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/04/amazon_spacex_project_kuiper/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/04/david_nalley_interview/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/30/watchdog_air_force_contracts/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/28/amazon_q_aws/
[14] https://govt.westlaw.com/wciji/Document/I2c83cabae10d11dab058a118868d70a9?transitionType=Default&contextData=%28sc.Default%29#
[15] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wvsd.235914/gov.uscourts.wvsd.235914.24.0.pdf
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZW6uenqefnAmQfGrrsQmNgAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: WTF?
I'm not sure how you tightly control or monitor use of that. You probably have to either forbid it entirely and ban the sale of such devices or accept that you can't prevent abuse of them. The most logical non-abusive use I can think of is installing the hook in an entrance, as if designed to hold a jacket, as part of a covert security system, but you have no way of knowing if I'm going to do that or something more abusive when I buy one and no real way to check what I've done with it afterward.
Re: WTF?
One of the barns over in Petaluma put a couple hidden cams in a tackroom to catch the party rifling the coat pockets and purses of riders out taking lessons. We haven't had a need for such a thing here, but I can assure you that I'll have something similar installed at the slightest sign of that kind of breach of trust.
People don't change clothes in the tackrooms, though ... they use the restrooms and/or the showers.
Another frivolous case
By frivolous I mean the person suing clearly went after whoever has the deepest pockets.
The beef this person has is with their US "host" who bought the thing in the first place, maybe even with the maker and seller of the device, but not Amazon. It becomes particularly clear this isn't really a serious case when they mention how Amazon allows people to search for things like "hidden camera". Well of course they fucking do. If porn filters have taught us anything, it's that you can't write a regex rule so precise it will target porn proclaiming something about the female talent's breasts and a PSA about breast cancer screening.
If this young woman wants to sue the person who installed the camera in her room, I'm all for it. She wants to go after the specific Amazon seller who seems to be targeting the pedo and pervert demographic, I'm again all for it. However, Amazon is like three degrees to Kevin Bacon in this particular case. It's like someone suing a gardening supply store for selling shovels that could be used by a serial killer to bury the bodies of their victims. The lawyer is just hoping Amazon will throw some money at them to make them go away.
Re: Another frivolous case
Like the drug dealer arguing they are just "the middleman" and really it is the growers of opium who should be arrested?
Re: Another frivolous case
In your analogy, the drug dealer would be the host who put this young woman up when she was in the US, and the growers of the crop would be the individual/company that listed the camera with all the pedo/perv bait language. Amazon would be like the store where the drug dealer bought the plastic bags to store the drugs, and claiming that Amazon didn't do enough to determine the guy is a drug dealer and those plastic bags might be used to store illicit drugs.
Re: Another frivolous case
Bad simile. Possession of illegal drugs for sale is an offense in and of itself. Possession of cameras is not.
Yet.
Re: Another frivolous case
The gardening store is selling shovels that are not really good, somehow, for much other than burying bodies in shallow graves.
Re: Another frivolous case
Personally, if I am burying ANYTHING I want a shovel that works, not a cheap one.
Bad tools aren't worth the money you pay for them. Buy it right, pay a little more, buy it once.
Hard to believe that case wasn't immediately thrown out. Amazon isn't spying on anyone, and there are plenty of legitimate uses for the camera, and its not illegal to sell it...
The court systems are screwing America.
WTF?
There may be a legitimate use for such a device -- but there are so many opportunities for abuse that such use should probably be tightly controlled/monitored. I just hope (a) that the homeowner carries the principal liability for the harms done and (b) that the actual product manufacturer is also being sued in addition to Amazon. And I hope that nobody involved gets off at all. This is scurrilous!