Apple has agreed to pay a $95 million settlement to end a class-action lawsuit related to recordings of conversations made with Siri. Nearly five years after the scandal, the controversy surrounding Siri's listening practices is coming to a close. On January 2, Apple announced that it has reached a settlement with a group of consumers concerning its voice assistant's intrusive listening.
In the summer of 2019, The Guardian revealed that voice commands and conversations between Apple users and Siri were being monitored by agents tasked with identifying false positives or errors to enhance the service. Users could opt-in to have their audio recordings shared for quality control, but Apple maintained total data confidentiality in line with its privacy commitments.
However, agents disclosed that the audio files were less anonymized than Apple claimed, with certain snippets potentially revealing individuals' identities, especially if Siri was activated accidentally. Following this discovery, an angry group of users initiated a class-action lawsuit, which is finally reaching its conclusion. Apple continues to assert its innocence, stating, "Apple has always denied and continues to deny any wrongdoing or alleged liability." The agreement is now pending approval from a U.S. court.
