Apple is facing a cybercrime investigation in France over its capture and review of voice recordings to improve the quality of Siri responses.
The probe faces complaints by a human rights organization over a 2019 revelation that Apple was using contractors to listen to voice recordings of Siri interactions by its customers despite its privacy promises …
Recordings of Siri interactions
Back in 2019, a Guardian report revealed that third-party contractors hired by Apple were listening to user interactions with Siri in order to improve the quality of the service.
The Guardian’s source for this latest report is said to be a contractor that “grades” Siri. The whistleblower said that “Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control” for Apple’s voice assistant.
Apple responded by suspending the program and promising to allow its customers to opt out in future. The company subsequently went further by making it an explicit opt-in rather than opt-out.
A class action lawsuit was inevitably filed, with Apple agreeing to pay compensation.
Apple faces cybercrime investigation
While the issue has now been resolved, Bloomberg reports that Apple is now facing a cybercrime investigation in France over the practice.
The Apple probe follows a complaint filed in France earlier this year by the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, a human rights organization. That complaint relied on testimony from Thomas le Bonniec, a former Apple subcontractor in Ireland who has publicly spoken out about analyzing sensitive user recordings, including from cancer patients […]
The probe has been referred to the Office for Combating Cybercrime, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Monday.
It’s unclear why the complaint has been filed so long after the incident which prompted it.
Apple did not respond to the report, instead pointing Bloomberg to its earlier blog post about switching to an opt-in.
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