Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri privacy lawsuit
Apple has been blamed for routinely recording private conversations after users unwittingly activate Siri and revealing these conversations to third parties.
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Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class action lawsuit that claimed its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users’ privacy. The preliminary settlement was filed Tuesday night in Oakland, California federal court and requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Mobile device owners complained that Apple routinely recorded their private conversations after inadvertently activating Siri, and disclosed these conversations to third parties such as advertisers.
Voice assistants typically respond when people use “hot words” like “Hey, Siri.” Two plaintiffs said that his mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered advertisements for those products. Another said she found advertisements for a brand-name surgical treatment after discussing it privately with her doctor. The class period runs from 17 September 2014 to 31 December 2024. It started when Siri included the “Hey, Siri” feature which allegedly led to unauthorized recordings.
Class members, estimated to number in the millions, could get up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches. Apple denied wrongdoing by agreeing to the settlement.
The Cupertino, California-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to similar requests. They may seek up to $28.5 million from the settlement fund and $1.1 million for fees and expenses.
The $95 million is about nine hours’ worth of profit for Apple, which had net income of $93.74 billion in its latest fiscal year.
A similar lawsuit on behalf of users of Google’s voice assistant is pending in San Jose, California federal court, in the same district as the Oakland court. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms as in the Apple case. The case is Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 19-04577.
