Alexa Users Win Class Status in Amazon Biometric Privacy Suit

Amazon.com Inc.‘s Alexa users suing the online retailer for collecting their voiceprints in violation of Illinois privacy law can proceed as a class, a federal court ruled.

Judge Franklin U. Valderrama of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted in part the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in a sealed opinion Thursday, according to a docket entry.

The class is defined as Illinois residents for whom Amazon created a voiceprint beginning June 27, 2014, the entry said.

Valderrama found that plaintiffs Christopher Block and Jason Stebbins were proper class representatives, but that Michael Gunderson wasn’t, ...