According to Reuters report, Apple has reached a $95 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant, Siri, violated user privacy by recording conversations without consent. The lawsuit, filed in 2019, claimed that Siri would sometimes wake up accidentally and listen in a conversations when it mistakenly heard its activation phrase.
The lawsuit cited a Guardian article that exposed Siri’s ability to record conversations without explicit activation. The plaintiffs accused Apple of “unlawful and intentional recording of individuals’ confidential communications without their consent.” They also pointed out that Apple’s terms of service at the time allowed the company to share user information with subsidiaries and agents to improve services.
The lawsuit alleged that Apple violated several California laws, including the Invasion of Privacy Act, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumers Legal Remedies Act. As part of the settlement, Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to resolve the lawsuit.
In response to the Guardian article in 2019, Apple announced that it would temporarily halt a program that allowed contractors to listen to recorded Siri conversations for quality control and accuracy. The company also allowed customers to opt out of this training program.
