Amazon Hands Over Alexa Data That Could Be Essential To Murder Case

Police previously asked Amazon to release certain data that was potentially collected by its smart assistant Alexa, which could prove helpful in a murder case. The retail giant refused to do so at the time, citing First Amendment rights that protect said data from government perusal. When the defendant in the case gave his permission to review the data, however, Amazon finally complied.

Amazon’s involvement goes back to December 2016, when Bentonville, Arkansas asked the company to turn over the data that Alexa may have gathered from the Echo devices in the home of Andrew Bates. The victim, Victor Collins, was found in Bates’ home, which made the homeowner the prime suspect for the murder, Gizmodo reports.

Pleading not guilty to first-degree murder, Bates gave his permission for the online retail site to release the information that the police were asking for in order to prove his innocence. In the statement that the defendant’s attorney released, the move is made in good faith in order to absolve Bates of the charges.

"Because Mr. Bates is innocent of all charges in this matter, he has agreed to the release of any recordings on his Amazon Echo device to the prosecution," the statement reads.

Since the owner of the data himself had already agreed to the demand, Amazon can’t justify resisting the request any longer. Nathan Smith is the prosecutor handling the case and in a recent statement to 5News, he declined to confirm if there was enough incriminating evidence in the data released that will be used in court.

"I am pleased that we will have access to the data from the defendant's Echo device since the defendant consented to its release," Smith said. "As with any case, our obligation is to investigate all of the available evidence, whether the evidence proves useful or not. Since this case is ongoing, I cannot comment on the specifics of the recording or whether it will be used in court."