Amazon Wins Bid to Arbitrate ‘Surreptitious Recording’ Claim

A plaintiff claiming Amazon.com Inc.'s voice-activated Alexa devices recorded her private conversations without authorization will have to arbitrate her “surreptitious recording” claim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in an unpublished ruling Friday.

In a fractured decision, the court held that insofar as the lower court decided the surreptitious recording claim wasn’t subject to arbitration because the allegation is “criminal in nature,” the district court was wrong.

The plaintiff’s claims are civil, and “arbitrators are not precluded from considering whether such claims are subject to arbitration,” Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson wrote for the majority.

The district ...