A former head of the National Security Agency (NSA) who was in office when the scandal broke out Edward Snowden has joined the Amazon board as director. Gen Keith Alexander, whose appointment was made public on Wednesday,
became known to the public after Mr. Snowden denounced the agency's mass surveillance programs.
A spokesperson for Privacy International told the BBC that the move is "worrying".
The BBC asked Amazon for comment.
Hours after General Alexander's appointment was made public, Mr. Snowden spoke on Twitter to express his concern.
"It turns out 'Hey Alexa' is short for 'Hey Keith Alexander,'" he tweeted.
"Yes, Keith Alexander personally responsible for the illegal mass surveillance programs that caused a global scandal," he added.
Last week, a U.S. federal court ruled that surveillance of the NSA phone record, discovered by Mr. Snowden in 2013, was illegal.
General Alexander suggested at the time that reporters would not be allowed to report on Mr. Snowden's leaked documents.
"I think it's wrong that those reporters have all these documents, the 50,000, whatever they have and they sell and distribute them as if they were these - you know it makes no sense," he told The Verge in 2013.
"We should find a way to stop it," he added.
"We don't need another NSA"Edin Omanovic, Privacy International's director of advocacy, said Amazon's decision to hire General Alexander was deeply concerning.
"Every day, big tech companies like Amazon make huge ethical decisions that affect people's lives without any democratic accountability," he said.
"Clearly it is worrying that at the center of it all is someone who has spent years defending secret data thefts that have turned out to be illegal. We don't need another NSA, not even one with a privacy policy."
Mr. Omanovic suggested the move could make it easier for Amazon to exert its influence in the security market.
"Amazon now wants to enter the lucrative defense and security market - and thereby the keys to the huge data repositories held by governments.
"It is no secret that the key to this is hiring influential former civil servants. The resulting concentration of power is bad for people, bad for companies and bad for companies," he added.
Last year, it emerged that Amazon's Alexa was part of a variety of smart voice assistants that were sending voice recordings to human contractors for review.
Amazon has since allowed consumers to opt out of such reviews.
