FTC
lawyers
submitted
a
filing
on
Thursday
that
claims
Amazon’s
top
execs
used
Signal’s
disappearing
messages
feature
to
destroy
evidence
relevant
to
the
agency’s
massive
antitrust
lawsuit.
(You
remember
the
one?
The
FTC
accused
Amazon
of
creating
a
secret
“Project
Nessie”
pricing
algorithm
that
may
have
generated
more
than
$1
billion
in
extra
profits.)
Now,
The
Washington
Post
(which
is
owned
by
Amazon
founder
and
former
CEO
Jeff
Bezos)
reports
that
Amazon
is
just
one
of
several
companies
recently
accused
of
turning
to
encrypted
messaging
apps
like
Signal
that
can
permanently
erase
messages
automatically.
This
week’s
filing
includes
screenshots
of
a
Signal
chat
between
two
Amazon
executives
who
said,
“Are
you
feeling
encrypted?”
and
proceeded
to
turn
on
disappearing
messages.
2:23-cv-01495-JHCImage:
Federal
Trade
Commission
et
al
v.
Amazon.com
Inc
The
FTC’s
lawyers
say
Bezos,
current
CEO
Andy
Jassy,
general
counsel
David
Zapolsky,
former
CEO
of
worldwide
operations
Dave
Clark,
and
other
execs
are
all
Signal
users.
Bezos
is
identified
in
the
document
as
“a
heavy
Signal
user”
who
instructed
others
to
use
the
app,
although
the
2018
hacking
of
his
personal
cellphone
may
be
part
of
the
reason
for
that.
And
because
Amazon
didn’t
instruct
employees
to
preserve
messages
sent
in
the
app
until
more
than
15
months
after
it
was
notified
of
the
investigation,
the
FTC
argues,
“It
is
highly
likely
that
relevant
information
has
been destroyed
as
a
result
of
Amazon’s
actions
and
inactions.”
The
FTC
lawyers
are
pursuing
discovery
into
Amazon’s
efforts
to
preserve
documents
so
they
can
figure
out
just
how
much
information
might
be
missing.
Despite
requests
last
fall
for
relevant
documents
about
what
advice
Amazon
gave
to
employees
about
ephemeral
apps,
the
FTC
claims
that
Amazon
has
so
far
refused
to
produce
much
of
what
was
requested.
If
the
judge
finds
that
Amazon
was
negligent
in
failing
to
preserve
data
tied
to
the
case,
it
could
face
sanctions,
and
things
could
get
worse
if
the
judge
finds
the
failures
were
intentional.
(Originally posted by Richard Lawler)
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