Siri lawsuit: Apple wants to pay 95 million US dollars over privacy issues
Apple had made recordings of Siri calls for ML training. Although these have been deleted, a lawsuit has only now been settled.
Drawing of a HomePod with a Siri logo next to it: Unwanted eavesdropping?
(Image: Erstellt mit Grok durch Mac & i)
A class action lawsuit against Apple for several years due to unwanted co-signing of Siri content has now been settled in exchange for payment of a fine. The competent federal court in Oakland, California, approved the out-of-court settlement with a total payout of 95 million US dollars (92.38 million euros). The court had previously ruled in September 2021 that the civil lawsuit was valid – Apple, however, had attempted to have it dismissed (Lopez et al. v. Apple Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 19-04577).
As usual in such settlements, there is no admission of guilt by the defendant Apple. The amount is also relatively small, as Apple has already had to pay hundreds of millions in connection with other lawsuits –, for example due to hardware defects –. Moreover, the money will not only go to the participants in the lawsuit and other affected parties, but also to the lawyers who brought the class action. It is not yet clear how much will actually be left over per person.
Since the introduction of "Hey Siri"
The so-called class period, i.e. the phase in which claims exist, extends from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. It is currently planned that these people will receive "up to 20 dollars" if they are resident in the USA. However, the amount may shrink. It will be paid per Siri-enabled device – such as an iPhone or Apple Watch –. According to the Reuters news agency, the lawyers will receive up to 29.6 million dollars. 95 million dollars corresponds to approximately nine hours of profit that Apple generates according to its latest figures.
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The class action lawsuit covers the entire phase in which the so-called "Hey Siri" function was active – This "watch word" or "hot word" has been used to call the voice assistant ever since. This is said to have "routinely" resulted in unwanted recordings, some of which were then – – used for AI training, including eavesdropping by employees of the company.
Lawsuit against Google continues
Apple had employed a separate department for this purpose, which was later dismissed. As part of the class action lawsuit, there were even allegations that Apple could have handed over the private conversations to third parties such as advertisers –, although this has not been substantiated. Some users claimed that they had seen advertisements matching private conversations on the web. However, this is likely to be a deception.
Tens of millions of people in the USA are said to be covered by the class action lawsuit. The company did not comment on the ruling. Since 2019, the company has implemented an opt-in function that allows users to consent to their voice being trained by Siri –, but many users are unlikely to do so. Meanwhile, a similar lawsuit is being brought against Google for possible eavesdropping on the Google Assistant.
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