Amazon and its subsidiary brand, Ring, are now facing a lawsuit in Virginia, with a plaintiff from the state alleging that the smart home devices of their friends and family collected and stored their images.

The plaintiff said that the Ring camera's facial recognition technology and tools were used by the company to take their image and keep it without consent.

Amazon Ring Faces Privacy Lawsuit After Alleged Violations

Reuters reported that Amazon is now facing a lawsuit from a Virginia man involving the company's smart home brand, Ring, and the brand's doorbell cameras and its specific feature.

Charles Sigwalt, the plaintiff, sued Amazon in a federal court in Seattle, and the lawsuit focuses on the feature of Amazon's Ring cameras called "Familiar Features."

The man who raised the concern to the court is not a Ring user but claims that whenever he passes by the doors of friends and family members' homes, the smart doorbell camera took a photo of his face.

According to Ring, the Familiar Faces feature is one of the latest technologies on the cameras, which uses facial recognition tech and what Amazon calls "advanced intelligence" to recognize people who are at or pass by doors.

For people who have already registered on their Ring app, whenever a familiar face passes by, it will no longer alert users that there is a "Person at Front Door." Rather, Ring will say "[Name] at Front Door."

Virginia Plaintiff Said Ring Kept Photos from Facial Scans

Because of this exact intuitive feature that tells users to register and keep a profile of another person so that they would be recognized when they are at the door, Sigwalt alleged that the company did not ask for his consent to be identified by the Ring camera.

According to Sigwalt, the feature violated his privacy as he did not consent to being recognized and having their photos stored by the technology.

Engadget highlighted a quote from US Senator Edward Markey, who wrote to Amazon that its "system forces non-consenting bystanders into a biometric database without their knowledge or consent. This is an unacceptable privacy violation."

Plaintiff Seeks Class-Action vs. Familiar Faces Feature

Now, Sigwalt is seeking to transform his case into a class-action lawsuit, which could invite more Americans who feel that their privacy was violated by the technology from Amazon and Ring.

He is currently seeking at least $5 million in restitution, but the amount has yet to be finalized.

Ring's Familiar Faces feature is optional and can be turned off in the Settings; it is only available for subscribers under the Pro subscription.