In the Amazon Alexa cases, lawyers representing the customers turned this feature of the arbitration system to their advantage. By filing claims en masse, the strategy left Amazon with a large legal bill even before any cases had been resolved. Just to hire the arbitrator and to get the process started for a single claim cost Amazon about $2,900. Amazon said its Echo technology was meant to detect only a chosen “wake word,” or a word that triggers the device. The company said customers could review and delete recordings at any time and could choose that the recordings never be saved.

Source: New York Times July 22, 2021 14:46 UTC