The September iPhone Event will have two slides less. They will be deleting those slides on how Apple is big on privacy. .
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Apologizes Over Siri Privacy Concerns, Will Resume Grading Program in Fall With Several Changes
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
They could have graded it just like they are going to grade for those who don't opt-in to human listening. Transcripts tied to random identifier.
Afaik, people weren't taking issue with that as much as they were taking issue with the lack of transparency regarding the listening and the use of outside contractors. It's a bit more nuanced that someone not using simple logic.
Why? You agreed when you signed upon to enable Siri. However, right now turn off Siri, Apple has you covered.
So Apple are great for privacy because they promise that in the future they'll offer the same privacy options that Google and Amazon have already been implementing. Um, okay.
St least you have to trigger Siri for it to listen and respond.
Google takes it to a whole other level.
“However, an investigation carried out by the British newspaper showed that Google’s audio assistant jams up in some instances. The report noted that in some cases, just saying “Ok” in a random conversation will prompt the system to switch the phone on and record about 20 seconds of audio.....The system was also found to switch the microphone on as users go about their usual activities day-in and day-out. Once the virtual assistant finishes recording, the system uploads the audio files to its computer servers often referred to as “the cloud.””
2019
Google caught secretly recording conversations through your mobile device
https://newstarget.com/2019-01-10-google-caught-secretly-recording-conversations-mobile-device.html
2017
Google admits its new smart speaker was eavesdropping on users
https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/technology/google-home-mini-security-flaw/index.html
2016
Google is Quietly Recording Everything You Say — Here’s How to Hear It, Delete It, and Stop It
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/google-quietly-recording-hear-delete/
2015
Google’s been quietly recording your voice; here’s how to listen to—and delete—the archive
https://qz.com/526545/googles-been-...eres-how-to-listen-to-and-delete-the-archive/
Every year
.Yes, seeing a pattern here.... I don’t believe a word they say anymore and I also wonder what they are doing with all these medical recordings they are gathering? Apple and privacy are two total opposites now it seems..
Apple is great for privacy because of a whole slew of reasons.
Are you claiming that Google and Amazon have always had these options, and didn't just recently add them?
I know my Alexa has had them for years. I don't use Google Assistant.
Do you have any evidence that Google and Amazon only just added these features or are you just engaging in random whataboutery to try to justify Apple's creation of the largest non-governmental surveillance program in history?
By the same token hyperbolic posts such as this claiming Apple has the largest non/government surveillance program in history is just another example of random Apple criticism:
- how do you trust amazon to know The delete button in Alexa works as you say,
- google assistant is better because of what reason now?
- do you have any evidence for anything?
It would be better that they didn’t need to apologise and just did what they say they did.
[doublepost=1567017754][/doublepost]
So why are they apologising and why did they suspend the activity if they were always “up-front?”
because contractors just love to listen to recorded audio for no reason but to make a living.
Apple themselves boasted about how many Siri commands they receive a month, and how many they analyse. I'm just using their numbers to make my claim.
You know Apple fans are getting desperate when they resort to paraphrasing Descartes that no one can prove anything therefore no one can prove Apple messed up.
[doublepost=1567018002][/doublepost]
The cognitive dissonance is astounding. "We did nothing wrong, but we promise to stop doing it, so it's all okay now."
If Apple didn’t know that they had 1000’s of contractors employed in grading, then how can they know their privacy claims are valid or legitimate? What else don’t they know that could be impacting privacy and security?
I do agree about the cognitive dissonance, but that’s neither here nor there.
But I think you answered my question, you’re making a hyperbolic claim, without any proof.
And this is a clearly your mileage may vary.
This is the way it should be, allow people to opt in and opt out.
Glad they apologized and are going to fix this nonsensical situation.
Just saw it now on Bloomberg
Glad they apologized and are going to fix this nonsensical situation.
Just saw it now on Bloomberg
From today's Guardian newspaper...
"Hundreds of Apple workers across Europe who were employed to check Siri recordings for errors have lost their jobs after the company announced it was suspending the programme earlier this month.
More than 300 employees have had their contracts ended in the company’s Cork facility alone, according to former employees, with more sent home from other sites across Europe.
The staff had been on paid leave since 2 August, the day Apple announced its decision to suspend the programme, referred to as “grading”, as it conducted “a thorough review”.
The decision followed a story in the Guardian that revealed the workers frequently heard confidential medical information and couples having sex while checking the Siri recordings.
The graders, employed through contracting firms, were sent home that Friday, with many told there was no work for them due to “technical errors”.
However, last week the contracting firms were told by Apple that the grading work would be terminated, leading to the mass job losses with little notice.
Even among those employees who were concerned by the ethics of the programme, there has been anger about how the job losses have proceeded. “I’m relieved this information came out,” said one former contractor who asked to remain anonymous due to a still-active non-disclosure agreement, “although I was involved in the work and I just lost my job. Discussions around ethics in this job was a constant between workers, but we don’t know how to bring it up.”
But, they added, “Apple, recruiting through vendor companies in Ireland, take absolutely no responsibility in the employment of contractors and their treatment in work. They do what they want, and when they’re done with your project or they screw up (like what just happened), they tell your vendor company to let you go, which they do … It’s been coming at them for over a year. How could they not see this coming? Did they think about protecting their employees at all? Or just their reputation?”
“We’ve all been laid off after the scandal, with no protection against this. More than 300 at once just in Cork, with no redundancy, just one week’s notice.”
The next software update to iOS, the operating system that runs iPhones, is expected in early October and was likely to be the first occasion where the company would have been able to implement a promised opt-out to the Siri grading system.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment."
"Hundreds of Apple workers across Europe who were employed to check Siri recordings for errors have lost their jobs after the company announced it was suspending the programme earlier this month.
More than 300 employees have had their contracts ended in the company’s Cork facility alone, according to former employees, with more sent home from other sites across Europe.
The staff had been on paid leave since 2 August, the day Apple announced its decision to suspend the programme, referred to as “grading”, as it conducted “a thorough review”.
The decision followed a story in the Guardian that revealed the workers frequently heard confidential medical information and couples having sex while checking the Siri recordings.
The graders, employed through contracting firms, were sent home that Friday, with many told there was no work for them due to “technical errors”.
However, last week the contracting firms were told by Apple that the grading work would be terminated, leading to the mass job losses with little notice.
Even among those employees who were concerned by the ethics of the programme, there has been anger about how the job losses have proceeded. “I’m relieved this information came out,” said one former contractor who asked to remain anonymous due to a still-active non-disclosure agreement, “although I was involved in the work and I just lost my job. Discussions around ethics in this job was a constant between workers, but we don’t know how to bring it up.”
But, they added, “Apple, recruiting through vendor companies in Ireland, take absolutely no responsibility in the employment of contractors and their treatment in work. They do what they want, and when they’re done with your project or they screw up (like what just happened), they tell your vendor company to let you go, which they do … It’s been coming at them for over a year. How could they not see this coming? Did they think about protecting their employees at all? Or just their reputation?”
“We’ve all been laid off after the scandal, with no protection against this. More than 300 at once just in Cork, with no redundancy, just one week’s notice.”
The next software update to iOS, the operating system that runs iPhones, is expected in early October and was likely to be the first occasion where the company would have been able to implement a promised opt-out to the Siri grading system.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment."
They should fix it. More control is better than less control. In that vein does one really believe however, the delete search button in google really deletes your searches?This is the way it should be, allow people to opt in and opt out.
Glad they apologized and are going to fix this nonsensical situation.
Just saw it now on Bloomberg
No. Come on. Please do not post fake news here!
The contractors were just doing what Apple asked their employer to do for them. They didn’t violate the privacy of Apple users without a direct order from Apple. Apple told them exactly what to do and so they did.
Apple will use its own employees just because then the employee is under Apple’s direct control. To prevent future whistleblowing. And since people trust Apple and its employees. Well yeah. That all there is to it.
Thanks for sharing. It was pretty much how I figured. This guy got all those contractors fired as a result of him breaking NDA to a news paper who gave a sensational headline.
For anyone who's not familiar with IT Contractor work. Many business have need for IT, a lot of companies out there specialize in providing contracted IT work or contracted labor for their IT work. As a Contractor you work for the company that hired you XYZ, not Apple. You have no benefits or pay from Apple. your benefits if any are from company XYZ, your pay is from company XYZ. The work you do is measured in some way which is then billed to Apple by company XYZ who then pays you. Typically when you're hired it's made very clear you are doing a job and have strict guidelines to stay within.
Why do companies use contracted services such as this? Having a direct employee has a lot of liability and expenses. It's cheaper to have a contractor do a lot of things and that releases you from the liability of hiring/firing people for performance or whatever. And if that contractor violates an agreement, you can hold them in violation of their contract which appears to be what happened here.
Do you have any evidence that searches aren’t removed when you click that button/link?