Apple Settles Siri 'Eavesdropping' Case
If you've used an Apple device which had the Siri assistant, you could be in for a cash bonus. Apple has agreed to pay $95 million compensation for recording users' conversations without their intentional consent.
The case relates to the "Hey Siri" voice command to activate the assistant. In theory the device would be constantly "listening" but would only process a few seconds of data at a time, check whether it heard "Hey Siri" and then delete the data if not.
The problem came with cases when the device misheard a user and began recording and analyzing the subsequent speech under the mistaken impression the user had intentionally triggered the assistant.
Targeted Ads
Users who brought the lawsuit claim they began receiving targeted ads related to things they had said after what they realized was an unintended triggering of Siri. This included two women who were discussing a sneaker brand and a man who was consulting a doctor about a medical condition. (Source: reuters.com)
Apple has previously confirmed it allowed third party contractors to listen to audio of recordings, including mistakenly triggered ones, for quality control purposes. It denied passing on any details from such recordings to advertisers. While agreeing a settlement in this case, it has not acknowledge any wrongdoing or that any of the specific claims in the case are correct.
Only Lawyers Getting Rich
The settlement and lawsuit have class action status, meaning anyone who owned a Siri-enabled device between 2014 and 2019 could be eligible for compensation if they say they recall Siri being triggered unintentionally. (Source: bbc.co.uk)
The maximum payout is set at $20 per device, with users limited to claiming for five devices. However, the actual payout may be much lower. The plaintiff's lawyer fees will likely be deducted from the payout, with the rest split among all eligible claimants. That means the $20 limit may prove irrelevant.
What's Your Opinion?
Have you ever noticed Siri or a similar feature being triggered by accident? Did you audibly "correct" it? Would you expect tech firms to delete the audio and associated analysis in such cases?
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Comments
Lawyers 99, claimants 1
These class action lawsuits are a big profit making machine for lawyers. The claimants usually get a pittance. I'll bet you'd see them disappear if limits were put on the amount the lawyers could collect. I've never noticed Siri triggered by accident,but I'd expect tech firms to delete what they collected and their analysis if it did happen.
Lawyers 99, claimants 1
the unfortunate truth is that these types of lawsuits, class-action, would NOT be filed if the lawyers were not involved. do you know how to go about suing Apple or Adobe or Microsoft? well neither do most of us. that's why we have lawyers.
the lawyers in these cases usually provide the frontend money for research and witness interviews and determining the "class" status etc. so if a "limit" were imposed, all these front-end costs would have to be paid first.
another thing about these types of lawsuits is the difficulty in proving membership in the "class". it's sort of easy with the stockholder classess as knowing when you purchased and sold a stock should be in your records. but I have received a list of various suits that includes at least one hundred comapnies from as long ago as 10-20 years in the past and I'm not even sure if I EVER owned those stocks.
so this "class" consists of "Did you ever owned device with SIRI? Did you ever inadvertantly call out "Hey SIRI?" Did the device record you as a result?" what prevents me (never owned an Apple period) from claiming membership?