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"only denies it for a decade or so and then begrudgingly pays out a pittance" is top-tier behavior!

How could they guarantee that an app doesn't track you?

That's not enough money

This was an excellent read. Thank u.

I remember TONS of posts and tech documentaries insisting it wasn’t spying from listening to us but was tracking where we were walking and who we were around 😡

Just like that scene where HAL lip reads the astronauts' convo in 2001

Just to confirm. Are they only agreeing to the payout because the phone was listening even if you had not first said "Hello Siri" But if you had said "Hello Siri" was it within Apple's right to sell anything you said to a third party? Cos I'm guessing some people didn't know that.

Google does it too....

Surprise! No, not really..😉

I'm sure it was an accident 🙄

Why do people use Siri? I disabled it.

This has happened to me so many times

Bro how many times has that phenomena been discussed only to be dismissed out of hand as confirmation bias or paranoia by all the Very Smart Tech Pundits?

Oh, and The Zuck owns all of your content on FB, IG and if you thought the security was end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp ... It is, between you and Meta, and the person you are talking to is also connected... to Meta.

I have an android phone, with the mic off, and have that happen often enough that I'm used to it. There is no such thing as privacy with a cell phone, period.

Knew it.

When I spent a week in the hospital I got a bunch of ads for nursing equipment. My phone had just been sitting in my purse across the room from me until the last couple of days.

My question - who the fuck is talking about Olive Garden?

"they just guessed what you would be interested in based on the past browsing and purchasing history of similar users"

We hear for you.

Ooooohhhhh…. I think they owe me some money.

I knew it!

if true this could blow the lid on a lot of tech companies

Aha! I always defended Apple, telling my suspicious friends that they were wrong. Boy, I am embarrassed now. And with Siri’s little eavesdropping diary, Apple knows I defended them, so I should be paid double!

I knew it!!!

Doesnt Google do this too?

📌

The Guardian article it cites is about quality control workers hearing private information during Siri activations. Big jump from that to these recording being used for advertising and the author of this article seems to pull that connection out of thin air.

My god they were RIGHT NGL I always assumed it was coincidence and confirmation bias. It just seemed too brazen to be something they'd actually do.

Surely an accident. Tim Apple would never.

I think Amazon has been doing this shit, too. YEARS AGO, I remember telling people on Reddit that I got an ad for a powered pencil sharpener, right after I used my loud old hand-cranked pencil sharpener, near my Alexa device. I was told that I was being a paranoid moron. Who's the moron now?

Completely unacceptable. $95 Million is pocket change. Should’ve been $95 BILLION

the alleged spying never occurred. debate me

Despite claims to the contrary, there really is very little "right to privacy" in the US, and nowhere is that more obvious than over the internet. A free "AI assistant" isn't free.

I’d eat my hat if the targeted ads part has any truth whatsoever. I’ll eat several hats.

Apple: huh. Jazzys complaining about the Mist again

Yeah, yeah, we get it, you're smart

"unintentionally". Fucking horse shit.

Now do Samsung phones and Google.

"Sorry we got caught illegally tapping your phone, here's $20. We're all square now right??"

Unintentionally??? I call intentional bullshit on that!

@helengibbons.bsky.social this is interesting (and one of the reasons I never use it)

I remember the Reply All episode where they concluded that this wasn't happening.

Oh, so the lawyers get a few million and we get 20 bucks? Man keep it.

“I lived in the panopticon and all I got was this lousy tshirt”

$20 seems low. If you caught some random local company or person bugging your house seems like you would get awarded whole lot more in civil court

Embarrassing post

Okay now do Google because the same shit happens

How much money did they make from this "unintentional" spying? I'd wager it's more than $95Million

📌

Someone steal your data, give you 20bucks when you find out. I wish that bank robbery works same way.

Hey Siri, Patagonia puffer jacket with hood, navy blue, extra large.

Glad to know I wasn't going crazy. But, also, what the hell???

During the 2020 lockdown I was talking to my husband about how I have no idea what a sourdough starter is. An hour later I had the Google app open on my iPhone and there was a recommended article in my feed on sourdough starters. I had never used my phone or devices to research this. 🙃

Reason #1 why I don’t have Siri on

This isn't how targeted advertising works. You're not getting advertised to based on conversations your phone is overhearing. I'm sorry to bust everyone's bubble but it just isn't true!

These settlements are tiny slaps on the wrist. These settlements need to be painful for the company before they become effective. I'm so sick of this crap.

god damned mother fuckers.... I don't even use Siri on my phone, I never activated it, and they still listened to my private conversations to serve me targeted ads. I thought I was being paranoid. $20? that's it? for invading my home? I hate fucking corporations and the bastards that run them,

We need to get rid of these corporations

$20 per device-- pathetic.

I too spied on millions of people, and I too will be paying a similar fine (16 cents).

All the time with Google.

The lesson, as always, never trust Apple, (or any corporation for that matter), but especially Apple. Apple doesn't treat its customers any differently than Trump treats the MAGA faithful; they're just better at marketing the abuse.

This has been happening for years

damn it would be cool to have a government that wasn’t Apple, Meta, and Alphabet in a trenchcoat

If only we had a really big group of people who we elect or get appointed or who work for said thing, who could, you know, protect us.....

Yes- my physical therapist was just talking about his phone doing this.

At the end you'll get a check for $2.07

Funny. I kill siri as soon as I get a new phone. And then autocorrect.

Before the settlement they were a $3.69 trillion company, after the fine they are a $3.69 trillion company.

Lol $20 for a crazy breach of privacy.

Hasn’t Amazon and Google been doing this for years? I remember the better part of 20 years ago seeing conspicuously timed ads showing up in my inbox.

I don't even have Siri turned on and I get ads for items mentioned in conversation and never searched for. Keep the damn thing in another room or turned off.

📌

Feel like @ologies.bsky.social exposed this about a decade ago on the Futurology episode....

$20??? OMG what am I going to do with all that money???? I mean it’s just a violation of our privacy. I sure hope Apple can afford to pay us all this massive sum. Ffs 🤦 This is justice these days?

I'm not saying this is great by Apple, but as far as I'm aware this is not evidence of the kind of "constant surveillance" that people sometimes think is happening, ie this is not a lawsuit about "the phone is always listening to me to send me ads" afaik we have no strong evidence for that

Totally intentional slap on the wrist to apple

Only $20? What a f-ing joke

What this implies is that Siri is using your info for targeted ads even when you know you're talking to it, which is disingenuous on Apple's part to say the least and I'll probably have more to say about this once I read the Siri promises on Apple's page and then it's privacy policy again.

Yes, fines are meant to be punitive, acting as a disincentive. This is a rounding error to Apple.

Do you think the Apple accountants even noticed it was gone?

Considering what each of them paid for their phones, it's almost nothing

Oh yeah you're right, but still capped at $100 per customer (where one customer could represent a household with quite a few devices).

$20! Can I get it in one lump sum or monthly payments?

Always listening for an activation phrase means *always listening*. All it has to do is make note of keywords it hears and sell your "interest" to advertisers so they can take advantage of it. If I can think of it, I'm sure others already have.

We're all living in a bubble. Sigh.

Haven’t had any issue with Siri, but a few years ago husband and I were talking about getting a Litter Robot for cats, and I started getting Litter Robot ads on Google on my laptop. Mic was turned off on computer, but Alexa was on kitchen counter. Makes no sense. I give up on the modern world. 😔

Congress completely useless when it comes to privacy and copyright protections. They’re all corrupt mfs.

people have been talking about this for years.. are they burying it under New Years week?

The per-head return on class actions is so low it's informative as to what privacy rights are actually worth. Equifax offered me 7 bucks. A parking meter app had payment data leak (and lied about the scope of the breach) and offered 25 bucks or 1 dollar of free credit in-app 🥴

All those red cowboy boot ads DID mean something after all?!?

Seems like someone got a good class action suit going, and Apple eventually acquiesced. One of those examples in the article is literally just a basic well advertised Apple Watch feature, and not some secret spying thing. I think the average person just doesn’t get how well they’re being tracked.

How do I get in on the payment too? I know that Siri spied on me in this way too.

I have an Android, as does the one I was speaking to, and got ads within the day after mentioning something I hadn't seen in years. Spying is ubiquitous, regardless of the laws.

Google does it too

I may or may not have had distrust/disdain for siri/cortana/etc. since day one. My mom may have gotten a tablet for the kitchen that I try to keep unplugged whenever I can because I don't trust it and it jumpscares me with the weather forecast at 3am when I'm trying to get a glass of water.

For the record I once had Spotify add an obscure old track to my weekly play list the day after someone mentioned it to me in the office. That was weird.

This was about a fairly rare medical condition. It wasn’t something you would normally get an advertisement for. I’m also amused that it apparently doesn’t “listen” to the movies I watch. At least, I don’t get advertising related to them. I do love to watch movies! 🍿

This happens all the time

But my pretentious graphic design colleagues always told me that Apple wasn’t like other multinational mega-corporations. That Apple truly cares about the wellbeing of their customers above profits.

Google is definitely doing the same thing, they just haven't been caught yet.

I fucking knew it. Jesus Christ

Estamos en esa class action, @rggamez.bsky.social? Mira que 40 ó 60 dólares nos apañan un mes de internet...

Deny defend depose goes to every corpo

In light of this news, I'm almost disappointed that my genius strategy never caused me to get a single ad for fishing poles...