Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a 5-year-old civil lawsuit that accused the Cupertino tech giant of using Siri to eavesdrop on people with iPhone and other Apple devices. According to the lawsuit, Apple inadvertently recorded customers’ private conversations using its digital assistant and human employees potentially overheard them. If US District Judge Jeffrey White approves the proposed settlement, the impacted users will get up to $20 per Apple device for up to five Siri-enabled devices, such as the iPhone and Apple Watch.
The initial class action lawsuit centers around customer complaints that Siri was unintentionally activated and a 2019 report from the Guardian alleged Apple third-party contractors regularly heard voice recordings while working on Siri quality control. According to the investigation, this included “confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex”. While Siri is supposed to activate upon hearing the wake word “Hey Siri”, reported instances said Siri was triggered by other things like the sound of a zipper or Apple Watch being raised in a certain way.
Apple users claimed that their private conversations were recorded and shared with third-party advertisers. Users would then see ads for a certain product they mentioned in the conversations. They even saw ads for the surgical treatment they were discussing with their doctors. After several complaints, Apple issued a formal apology letter saying it would improve Siri’s privacy protections and wouldn’t save voice recordings any further.
Eligible Users
If approved, US users who owned or bought a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod, or Apple TV between September 17th, 2014 and December 31st, 2024 would be eligible for the compensation. In addition to this, each user should meet another eligibility criteria. They should swear under oath saying they accidentally activated Siri during a confidential or private conversation. The individual payouts are dependent on how many people file the claim.
Apple isn’t the only company accused of privacy violations by digital voice assistants. Amazon and Google also use contractors who listen to recorded conversations. In fact, Google is in the midst of a similar class-action lawsuit that accuses Google Assistant of triggering automatically without any wake words.
