Apple agreed to pay 95 million dollars to resolve a demand that accused the company of turning its Siri virtual assistant into a spy that listened to users of iPhones and other devices, in a betrayal of their long -standing commitment to personal privacy with personal privacy .
The proposed settlement filed in federal court earlier this week still needs to be approved by a judge, but here are a few things to know about the case and the privacy issues that it raised.
The Wood law firm, specializing in collective resources, filed a complaint against Apple in August 2019, shortly after The Guardian newspaper published an article in which it was alleged that the Siri microphone had been surreptitiously lit to record conversations taking advantage of the knowledge of users.
Apple launched a software update of September 2014 that was intended to light the virtual assistant with the words of cause “Hey, Siri”, however, Guardian’s article said Siri heard and recorded conversations at other times to help to company technology.
The story led to demand, which then generated accusations that Apple shared some of the conversations that Siri had secretly recorded with advertisers to connect with consumers with the most likely to buy their products and services.
Tens of millions of American consumers who owned or purchased iPhones and other devices supplied with Siri between September 17, 2014 and the end of last year will file a complaint.
It’s far too early to tell for certain, but the settlement currently envisions paying out up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, with each consumer limited to a maximum. The final amount could be affected by two factors — the number of claims and how much of the settlement fund is reduced to cover legal fees and costs.
A claims administrator estimates that only between 3 % and 5 % of eligible consumers will register claims. The lawyers in the case are requesting lately around $ 30 million in fees and expenses, but that figure could be further reduced through the US district judge Jeffrey White, who is supervising the case in Oakland, California. A judicial hearing has been proposed for February 14 on the terms of the agreement.
If the allegations were true, Apple would have likely violated federal wiretapping legislation and other laws designed to protect people’s privacy. But Apple has adamantly denied any wrongdoing and maintained that it would have been allowed to engage in any misconduct if the case had gone to trial. .
The company did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Lawyers representing consumers claimed Apple’s misconduct was so egregious that the company may have been liable for $1. 5 billion in damages if it lost the case.
While Apple has not explained the reasons for these regulations, sometimes large corporations make the decision that it makes more sense to resort to collective recourse than to proceed with legal pricing and risk poor advertising. The judgment also took aim at one of Apple’s core values, which considers privacy to be a “basic human law. “
While 95 million dollars seem a lot of money, it is a bite for Apple. Since September 2014, the company’s general profits have exceeded 700 billion dollars, a prosperity streak that has helped boost the company’s market price to around 3. 7 billion dollars.
Maybe. A case to that deposited opposite to Siri is still underway before a federal court in San José, California, in opposition to Google and the virtual assistant of its Android software, widely used in smartphones for years.
You can disable Apple’s virtual assistant following those steps:
1. Access Siri and settings.
2. Power off, hear “Hey Siri” and press the Siri button.
3. Tap Turn off Siri when a pop-up appears.
You can also deactivate individual programs in your iPhone microphone acting the following elements: Access configuration (select the application) and then turn off the microphone.