Amazon Focuses on Alexa Privacy as It Unveils New Gadgets (2)

Amazon.com Inc. defended the privacy features of its Alexa digital assistant -- and introduced some new tools to reassure users -- following months of debate about the practices of the technology giant and its largest competitors.

“We care about this,” Dave Limp, leader of the company’s devices business, said Sept. 25 at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. “Privacy is absolutely foundational to everything that we do in and around Alexa,”

Limp’s privacy pitch was unusual for a company most comfortable talking up product features and gushing about customers. But the e-commerce giant’s need for the trust of its users became ...