Apple Sued For Its Unlawful Recording Of Siri Interactions

A report from July has revealed that the tech giant Apple had its contractors record and grade Siri's response. That means those contractors have also listened to users' private conversations.  Apple now has do deal with a lawsuit over this matter.

The accusations

Kif Lewsing was the first one to spot this lawsuit. In the lawsuit filed in the Northern California federal court, the accusers accuse the tech giant of its intentional and unlawful recording of users' confidential communications without their permission. According to the lawsuit, the company is said to be violating the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the Invasion of Privacy Act of California,  the Unfair Competition Law, plus the Declaratory Judgment Act.

The accusers allege that the conditions and terms of Apple do not mention that Apple will have the right to save and listen to Siri's responses to users. The accusers say that this lawsuit affects all other users who have been using Siri since 2011.

This lawsuit also emphasized that Siri interactions were also recorded even when users accidentally activated the assistant by saying "Hey Siri." Moreover, it notes on the company recent firm stance on security and privacy issues:

The accusers are looking for unspecified damages, and want the court to order Apple to delete all of its Siri recordings.

In July, the Guardian published a  report stating that there are many contractors of Apple who are responsible for listening and grading Siri's responses. And that they regularly listen to drug deals, private medical information, and sex recordings of Siri's users.

Apple's statement

Apple already delivered its statement on this matter. It said that it was doing an internal review of its grading practices for Siri and it has suspended the Siri service during that review. Once it reinstates Siri grading, it will give the users an opting-out if they want to.