By Police1 Staff
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Amazon has denied Bentonville authorities access to a murder suspect’s Amazon Echo data.
According to KFSM, James Andrew Bates, 31, is accused of murdering Victor Parris Collins, 47, in a hot tub back in 2015.
The Amazon Echo is a personal assistant that collects voice data to help solve the user’s problems. Police asked the retailer for access to the information the Echo collected to see if the device picked up any other audio from the night of the murder, The Information reported.
Amazon did not turn over the information stored on the device, but they gave authorities Bates’ account details and purchases, Engadget reported.
“Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us,” a spokesperson told Engadget. “Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.”
Apple faced the same issue when authorities asked to hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s phone in February, stating that doing so would “threaten data security for millions and everyone’s civil liberties.”