Apple sues for listening to user conversations with Siri

A few days ago, we notified that companies contracted by Apple were listening to private conversations from users Crab (short voice clips) to enhance your speech recognition system. The problem is that, from the information given, the content of these recordings was far from harmless or disposable.

Shortly thereafter, Apple said it was "committed to protecting user privacy" and that while conducting a thorough review of things, it suspended the review of these audios. In addition, as part of a future software update, the company has indicated that users may or may not participate in this review program.

Of course, such actions would not be enough to soothe others' peaks; proof of that it was opened a to the collective (persons who come together for the same purpose to sue a particular company) in the Northern California Federal Court, in which the plaintiffs accuse Ma of unlawful and intentional registration of confidential communications by individuals without their consent.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple violated several laws, such as the California Privacy Breach Act, the Unfair Competition Act, the Consumer Appeals Act, and the Declaratory Judgment Act.

According to the complainants, Apple's terms and conditions do not refer to the fact that their recordings would be saved and listened to by employees. They also say that anyone with a social worker device was exposed, emphasizing also Siri's interactions that can be recorded even due to accidental activations (when she thinks you said “Hey, Siri”) .

The plaintiffs are asking for $ 5,000 for each violation (as a compensation), for Apple to pay all attorney expenses, for the company to stop making such recordings, and for all claims already made to be properly erased.

For those interested, the collective action file can be accessed here (PDF).

via 9to5Mac