Apple Contractors Listened to 1,000+ Siri Recordings Per Shift

[Ruggy]

You make a very important point and it is a really big difference. Google only make money on your data nothing else.
They justify what they charge clients by what you see and what you do with what you see.
Siri is a service and although it's changed a bit over the years, since day one they've made it very clear that if you used the enhanced function (not sure it's there any more) then your data would go to a remote server and would be recorded. I find it hard to believe anyone hasn't seen that.

I do feel uncomfortable about it but I assume everything I do on the net is public anyway.

It's a bit like talking in a bar or on a plane where the people around you can hear what you say.

Does anyone believe it's all totally private?
I've talked to my kids about it and they don't and I've talked to my technophobic old mother-in-law and she doesn't so who are these innocent people?

If you think your email isn't being sieved through for target words too you are very naive (even if it's only anti spam, it is)

But like the poster here says, Apple actually aren't really interested and they have genuinely done more for security and privacy than anyone else.
If not, then who else has?

PS Living in Europe I once made a request to Apple for all the data they have on me to which the complied.
The link is here:
https://privacy.apple.com/account
It was very little and most of it was things I'd put in the cloud and therefore chosen to give them.
I think it was 35 pages in total but a lot of that was blank or encrypted.

 

[FamVR]

You still don’t get it. Maybe I wasn’t clear. Let me try again: Apple doesn’t monetize what data they have on you. That’s not how they generate profit. They make products instead. See?

What in the ever loving blue blazes is your point?? Whatever Google does is fine because it helps their bottom line?! Because they paid devs with the profits? Let them track you, learn you, monetize you because that’s their business model??

Sure. I do understand what you wrote. Google makes money from advertisements. Clear, because that is their main product. Their business model. But have you ever used Google? Ever used a browser? Well. In all fairness...that’s for a big part thanks to the money from Google.

Ever seen security bugs been reported by Google’s security team? Something has to pay the bills. Right?

Another thing. You personally may not care but x.company is also funded by ad money. For all kinds of projects, and yes they need money for it. No big deal. Ads are everywhere and will only become more prominent.

Yes. You may not like it, but I belief that one day even Apple will cave in to ad revenue. Just a matter of time.

 

[Rob_2811]

Everybody brags about how secure Apple’s devices are until they’re not. Then the excuses start.

So we all read the user agreement and are aware Apple invades our privacy, but that’s ok because Apple devices are more secure than everyone else?

My guard dog attacks me everyday but that’s ok because my house is secure...

I agree and see people do it on here all the time.

People forget Apple was implicated in the Prism Programme along with Microsoft, Facebook Google et al. Of course they denied it but you're living in an ivory tower if you think any of these companies have your best interests as their main priority.

Good piece here from Mike Elgan about how vague Apple often are on this kind of thing.

 

[ipponrg]

PS Living in Europe I once made a request to Apple for all the data they have on me to which the complied.
The link is here:
https://privacy.apple.com/account
It was very little and most of it was things I'd put in the cloud and therefore chosen to give them.
I think it was 35 pages in total but a lot of that was blank or encrypted.

It's the same when you ask of Google if you don't uncheck the boxes. My Google data was much less than my Apple data. But that's partially me being pedantic and unchecking everything personal to share with Google.
[doublepost=1566841180][/doublepost]

They do the same job as employees, background checks and ndas. So yeah, they are the same as employees.

Nope, they aren't the same as staff employees. Most of the time when people refer to employees, they are actually talking about staff employees and not contractors. I've bolded the keywords for your understanding.

 

[I7guy]

...
Nope, they aren't the same as staff employees. Most of the time when people refer to employees, they are actually talking about staff employees and not contractors. I've bolded the keywords for your understanding.

They do the same job as employees and bound by the same rules.
[doublepost=1566842433][/doublepost]

lol......really? Apologist much?

Nope never. Call them as I see them as do you.

Do you really think any reasonable person has read that? So that excuses them of anything if they hide it in the small print?

Given the legal requirements of providing a tos and having a separate link right under the enable button, yes.

So you are saying ...we should not believe anything Apple advertises? Should we believe anything they say then?

You should believe what you want. It does at affect my beliefs at all, if only to discuss/argue about it here.

This is great....AFTER our data has leaked.

What data leaked?

 

[macfacts]

They do the same job as employees and bound by the same rules.

I'm pretty sure the Chinese factory workers are under a NDA yet we get leaks every year.

 

[eoblaed]

I really don’t get the angst or even interest in this.

They’re random recordings. No ID. No one on the planet knows that recording is you.

If it can’t be tied to you, at all, who cares?

 

[I7guy]

I'm pretty sure the Chinese factory workers are under a NDA yet we get leaks every year.

I’m pretty sure if you are specifically concerned about your Siri conversations being leaked to the dark, it’s in the realm of possibility. Same as any other piece of data about you in the world.

So carry on.

 

[ronno]

Contractors are the same as employees, except there is no process to fire a contractor.

NOPE.
Contractors get less benefits in a wide range of ways (lose out on many perks & benefits, no health insurance, no stock options, no paid vacation, etc etc etc.) Contractors are second class employees, easy to fire, and thus with far less potential loyalty to the company. I was a contractor with Google (down the road from the main Apple campus.)

 

[ApplesandOranges]

I’m pretty sure if you are specifically concerned about your Siri conversations being leaked to the dark, it’s in the realm of possibility. Same as any other piece of data about you in the world.

So carry on.

Privacy isn’t that important as long as I’ve got the latest hardware and my friends are impressed. Who cares if they find a leaked photo of me in a tutu riding a unicorn.

 

[jamezr]

I’m pretty sure if you are specifically concerned about your Siri conversations being leaked to the dark, it’s in the realm of possibility. Same as any other piece of data about you in the world.

So carry on.

as pointed out by numerous others in this thread...you are not genuinely participating in this discussion.....you continue to deflect and move the goal posts and try to change the subject.
It is hard to have a reasonable genuine discussion with some that continues to have an apologetic stance on all things Apple.....

 

[azentropy]

Wonder how many times they heard me tell Siri to go @&#$#*#& itself when it didn’t work or didn’t understand me.

 

[ipponrg]

I really don’t get the angst or even interest in this.

They’re random recordings. No ID. No one on the planet knows that recording is you.

If it can’t be tied to you, at all, who cares?

Random recording: "Hey Siri, how far am I from my parents at address ---- "

 

[eoblaed]

Random recording: "Hey Siri, how far am I from my parents at address ---- "

Anyone can google random addresses and know that someone lives at that address. I'd guess half or so of the random addresses you get by throwing a dart at a map are parents. The recording the person is listening to is just that: a recording. It is not "from user bobbyjoe@icloud.com, 321-741-1234: 'hey siri...'"

I hear a lot of "we want this to be better!", and until we've perfected AI, there is no really good way to make it better without having just plain ol' 'I' in the mix ... and that involves humans. If the recordings don't have any identifying data attached to them, I don't see the problem.

 

[ipponrg]

Anyone can google random addresses and know that someone lives at that address. I'd guess half or so of the random addresses you get by throwing a dart at a map are parents. The recording the person is listening to is just that: a recording. It is not "from user bobbyjoe@icloud.com, 321-741-1234: 'hey siri...'"

I hear a lot of "we want this to be better!", and until we've perfected AI, there is no really good way to make it better without having just plain ol' 'I' in the mix ... and that involves humans. If the recordings don't have any identifying data attached to them, I don't see the problem.

Yeah I agree but you missed the entire thread.

 

[Kabeyun]

But like the poster here says, Apple actually aren't really interested and they have genuinely done more for security and privacy than anyone else.
If not, then who else has?

This is my point. It’s absurd to point to a security lapse by Apple (if that’s what this is) on one hand, and to profit-by-data models like Google and Amazon on the other hand, turn off one’s critical thinking, and call them the same. They’re not. Using humans to refine Siri is not the same as collecting and monetizing scads of user data as the source of one’s business profit. “Apple did this so they’re the same as Google and Amazon who do that.” This is called false equivalency: find a very broad domain that two things touch on and call them identical. And it’s pseudo-clever to use this false equivalency to claim that Apple cares as little about privacy as data profiteers.

But at the end of the day, fine. If these people feel as comfortable with Gmail as they do with Apple Mail, as comfortable with Facebook’s WhatsApp as they do with iMessage, as comfortable with Google Play as they do with the App Store, I couldn’t care less. Good luck.

I’m no fanboy, but I’m no fool. I tolerate Siri’s idiocy, Apple’s donglephilia, and various compatibility issues that have arisen from time to time. I do it because I know which ecosystem has always been on the right side of the privacy/security question, even if they bobble the ball from time to time.

 

[FFR]

Mostly...

Well sometimes..

Why?
Siri doesn’t happen on the iPhone.
That ad is still very accurate.

 

[Rob_2811]

Why?
Siri doesn’t happen on the iPhone.
That ad is still very accurate.

How does Siri hear the voice command? Is the microphone located in the cloud?

and no the ad is not accurate at all..

 

[I7guy]

How does Siri hear the voice command? Is the microphone located in the cloud?

and no the ad is not accurate at all..

The ad is a slogan and not a statement of fact. If one is pedantic about the wording of course an Internet connected device has info that leaves the phone. But you have to be pedantic in that regard.

 

[Rob_2811]

The ad is a slogan and not a statement of fact. If one is pedantic about the wording of course an Internet connected device has info that leaves the phone. But you have to be pedantic in that regard.

I wasn't talking about that, it isn't accurate in privacy terms either.

 

[I7guy]

I wasn't talking about that, it isn't accurate in privacy terms either.

Why because siri is server assisted?

 

[Rob_2811]

Why because siri is server assisted?

No because there are a whole host of Apps on the App Store that harvest user data.

 

[I7guy]

No because there are a whole host of Apps on the App Store that harvest user data.

That to me, is being pedantic and why that is a slogan (and a clever one at that). But we will seemingly disagree on this.

 

[FFR]

How does Siri hear the voice command? Is the microphone located in the cloud?
and no the ad is not accurate at all..

Yes through the microphone, the same microphone can be used in a call to transmit your voice to others, your voice, that call, doesn’t just stay on your device Shocking, right. Lol

and no the ad is not accurate at all..

You have made plenty of mistakes in the past, Siri is processed in the cloud not on your device.

So once again it’s pretty valid ad.

Unless your claiming that Siri is proceesed on the iPhone, are you?

Great ad.

 

[damphoose]

I do find it odd that Apple promotes privacy and yet does stuff like this. It kind of disappoints me because I sincerely hope they are not like the others but when stuff like this surfaces, it makes me lack confidence.

And before anyone says it's in the small print somewhere, it's the principle that matters. If you are going to brag about it, make damn sure that you follow it up.

How exactly did you think improvements to voice commands were done? Did you think the magic voice command fairy came by once a year and sprinkled dust on it?

Apple is not selling your voice recordings or even using it to market to you. Therefore (for me at least and I suspect many others) they have not violated their promise of privacy.