CNN —

Amazon has agreed to pay more than $30 million to settle two federal lawsuits alleging that the tech giant violated users' privacy — including that of children — through its Alexa voice assistant and its Ring doorbell cameras.

Video above: Alexa’s celebrity voices are being discontinued

The twin settlements Wednesday with the Federal Trade Commission highlight claims that Amazon retained Ring videos and Alexa voice recordings, along with related geolocation information, for years – in some cases without consent and despite requests by consumers for the data to be deleted.

In addition, the FTC alleged that lax data policies at Amazon meant that the information could often be accessed by unauthorized parties — and often was, in the case of Ring doorbell footage.

Amazon acquired Ring in 2018, paving the way for the e-commerce giant to get into the home security business. In addition to video doorbells, Ring makes indoor and outdoor security cameras as well as alarm systems.

In a complaint accompanying the settlement, the FTC claimed Ring gave employees unrestricted access to videos from customers' home security systems. In one instance, the complaint states, a Ring employee viewed thousands of video recordings from at least 81 female users between June and August 2017, viewing cameras that users had assigned to bathrooms and bedrooms. An initial misconduct report by a fellow employee was not taken seriously, the complaint said.

"Only after the supervisor noticed that the male employee was only viewing videos of 'pretty girls' did the supervisor escalate the report of misconduct," the FTC alleged in the complaint. "Only at that point did Ring review a portion of the employee's activity and, ultimately, terminate his employment."

The complaint against Ring also recounts numerous alleged instances of hacked cameras allowing malicious actors to speak to victims, causing distress. Many of these attacks allegedly occurred through successful guessing of user passwords, reflecting failures by Amazon to require strong password protections, according to the complaint.

"Between January 2019 and March 2020, more than 55,000 U.S. customers suffered from credential stuffing and brute force attacks that compromised Ring devices," the FTC alleged. "Through these attacks, bad actors gained access to hundreds of thousands of videos of the personal spaces of consumers' homes, including their bedrooms and their children's bedrooms—recorded by devices that Ring sold by claiming that they would increase consumers' security."

As part of the proposed settlement, Ring has agreed to pay $5.8 million and implement a new data security program, according to the filing.

"Ring promptly addressed these issues on its own years ago, well before the FTC began its inquiry," Ring said in a statement provided to CNN. "While we disagree with the FTC's allegations and deny violating the law, this settlement resolves this matter so we can focus on innovating on behalf of our customers."

Separately, Amazon will pay $25 million to settle the allegations surrounding its Alexa voice assistant.

In a complaint, the FTC alleged that Amazon violated a children's privacy law known as COPPA, which restricts the collection of personal information from children under 13 without a parent's consent.

According to the FTC, Amazon kept Alexa voice recordings of children "indefinitely" unless a user specifically instructed the company to delete the recordings. It also allegedly sometimes failed to honor the deletion requests "and instead retained that data for its own potential use."

The proposed Alexa settlement requires Amazon to delete voice recordings and geolocation data in accordance with past consumer requests, including that of children. The company will also be barred from using that data to train its algorithms, the FTC said. Amazon also agreed to send consumers notices about the FTC settlement, and to implement a privacy program for geolocation data.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Alexa settlement.

ROSWELL, Ga. — Becoming a new mom in the middle of a pandemic was far from what Jessica Kitchel had ever planned. A few weeks before Christmas, this Atlanta-area resident gave birth to her son, Chancy.

"It's been pretty isolating being in the house not being able to leave. And once my husband went back to work, the walls started closing in," Kitchel said.

While mom and baby are perfectly healthy, the holidays and COVID brought about a particularly profound sense of loneliness this year.

It was on one of those rough days in December when Kitchel was waiting for a shipment of Bobbie baby formula for her newborn. When the doorbell rang, she had expected to just find a box, but instead, found a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

In the weeks leading up to Kitchel's delivery, UPS driver Dallen Harrell had noticed the blue stork balloons tied to the family's mailbox. A new dad himself, Harrell decided to leave Kitchel a message as he dropped off her delivery.

In the video message, which has now gone viral, Harrell can be heard saying, "If this is the, 'It’s a Boy House,' I hope all is going well with your newborn. I had a child around the same time you guys did. I hope everything is going good. God bless."

And then the message ended.

"We get deliveries a lot and I’ve never had anyone leave a message. I was blown away. I thought he was like an angel that came to my door," Kitchel said after finding the video.

Just two days after posting the clip to Instagram, Kitchel was able to find Dallen Harrell, the UPS driver who had left the message.

"I was hesitant if I was even at the right house, hesitant if I should say something," Harrell said about the video.

Harrell never expected anyone to see his doorbell cam checkup, and he certainly didn’t expect the gifts he’d soon get in return.

After Kitchel shared the video on social media, there was an outpouring of support for Harrell and his new family. Strangers were so moved they ended up buying out Harrell's entire baby registry, which had been sitting untouched for three months.

"He and his fiancé had not had a baby shower. They hadn’t had a lot of gifts given to them. They had made a registry that was untouched," Kitchel explained.

For Harrell, the whole experience has been life-changing. After seeing the video, UPS decided to offer this seasonal driver a full-time job.

In the last month, the video has circulated around the globe, and Harrell hopes it can be the kind of gift which is appreciated year-round.

"I just hope this will restore faith in humanity, and I hope the message behind, people continue to pay it forward."

A newlywed nearly spent his honeymoon in the doghouse.Andrew Kent dropped his sweetheart's wedding ring into Lake Tahoe during their wedding ceremony — when they were trying to exchange rings, KOVR-TV reports.But thanks to a scuba diver, the episode has a happy ending.Newlywed Marlee Kent, of Vancouver, Washington, said she can't wait to share the tale with their kids one day. Tap the video above to find out more about this story.