Amazon.com Inc. is facing a new federal class-action lawsuit alleging that its Ring video doorbell cameras illegally capture, analyze, and store the biometric data of unsuspecting passersby without their consent.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle by Virginia resident Charles Sigwalt, centers on Ring’s Familiar Faces feature. Introduced in September, the optional artificial intelligence (AI) tool scans individuals within the camera’s field of view, creates unique face prints, and categorizes them to provide homeowners with personalized alerts, such as naming a frequent visitor.

The technology constitutes a massive privacy violation for millions of Americans who walk past the devices, according to the complaint. Sigwalt alleges that Ring collected and stored his facial recognition data without warning while he was visiting friends and family. The suit seeks class-action status and at least $5 million in damages.

“When plaintiffs and class members entered the homes and businesses of places which had Ring cameras that deployed Familiar Faces, they did not consent to have their privacy rights violated at the entrance way,” the lawsuit states, calling the practice a “profound privacy failure.”

Amazon, which purchased Ring in 2018 for $1 billion, has declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The legal challenge arrives amid intensifying scrutiny from privacy advocates and lawmakers over consumer surveillance. Digital rights groups, including the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, have heavily criticized the Familiar Faces feature, warning that centralized databases of biometric data pose severe risks for mass surveillance and potential data breaches. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a long-standing critic of Ring’s data-sharing practices, has also condemned the technology for recording the biometric data of non-consenting individuals.

This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal and public relations challenges for Amazon’s security division. In 2023, Amazon paid $5.8 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint alleging the company failed to protect customer security and allowed employees and contractors unchecked access to private video footage. Around the same time, Amazon settled a separate privacy claim involving its Alexa voice assistant for $25 million.

More recently, Ring drew fierce public backlash over a Super Bowl commercial highlighting its Search Party feature — an AI tool designed to help locate missing pets by pulling feeds from surrounding cameras. Critics warned the capability could easily be repurposed for neighborhood-wide surveillance. Following the controversy, Amazon abruptly terminated a commercial partnership with security technology firm Flock Safety, a company that had previously drawn scrutiny over its nationwide network of license-plate readers and potential data-sharing with federal immigration authorities.