Contractors Working on Siri 'Regularly' Hear Recordings of Drug Deals, Private Medical Info and More Claims Apple Employee

[sirozha]

Freaky? You most likely said son which caused Siri to incorrectly activate and pickup the rest. The S sound often causes activation. This is why they listen to some recordings, to try and identify things like this and stop them happening.

I never call my son “son”.

 

[davester]

Well this is disappointing to read. Next headline I read will be that Apple has given iPhone backdoor access to the CIA. Disabling Siri.

 

[inkswamp]

But if you use Siri your happy for some contractor, who has had little vetting and not signed an NDA contract I’m guessing

You are guessing. Do you have evidence to back that up? If not, your whole argument collapses.

And you really think a company as big as Apple with the deep pockets they have and the possibility of getting sued doesn't have contractors sign NDAs up the @#$&?

 

[pweicks]

I’m sure Apple will see a noticeable drop in user analytics now that this article is public.

 

[panjandrum]

Well, that's sad to hear. I turned off my "hey Siri" a long time ago when it became obvious that so many of these devices listen all the time, not only when their hear their activation phrase. I hope that's still the case with Siri, as the one feature I do sorely miss is my ability to shout "hey Siri, where are you?" and then find my dang phone.

 

[apolloa]

You are guessing. Do you have evidence to back that up? If not, your whole argument collapses.

And you really think a company as big as Apple with the deep pockets they have and the possibility of getting sued doesn't have contractors sign NDAs up the @#$&?

Yeap considering Apple is false advertising I would think Apple doesn’t have its contractors sign NDA’s, the fact one of them was interviewed for this article proved that, thought that was obvious?
My argument stands and it’s sad for anyone to defend Apple on this..

 

[I7guy]

Yeap considering Apple is false advertising I would think Apple doesn’t have its contractors sign NDA’s, the fact one of them was interviewed for this article proved that, thought that was obvious?
My argument stands and it’s sad for anyone to defend Apple on this..

What sad is thinking Apple doesn’t lawyer up with NDAs it’s employees and contractors. That someone gave out information is not indicative they are above board with following the rules of their employment. For no reason as it seems Apple privacy policy states they can use this information to make Siri better.

 

[DNichter]

I’m fine with them using voice recordings to make Siri better. As long as they aren’t using it to sell me ads, I’m good.

 

[as.fonseca]

The 3 points here that tarnish Apple's image as a champion of privacy:

1) Not clearly inform customers (remember the battery fiasco, do we have a pattern here?);

2) Outsource the listening for the record analysis (demonstrates Apple's breach of trust for its own defined terms of service);

3) Not offering a simple way to erase data (makes it seem like Apple didn't want customers to know that they have similar initiatives to Google and Amazon for data analysis, even though the company's top-level management makes a point of publicly stating that Apple doesn't do that and that Apple's approach is always to do data analysis on client devices, never in the cloud).

 

[ikramerica]

The 3 points here that tarnish Apple's image as a champion of privacy:

1) Not clearly inform customers (remember the battery fiasco, do we have a pattern here?);

2) Outsource the listening for the record analysis (demonstrates Apple's breach of trust for its own defined terms of service);

3) Not offering a simple way to erase data (makes it seem like Apple didn't want customers to know that they have similar initiatives to Google and Amazon for data analysis, even though the company's top-level management makes a point of publicly stating that Apple doesn't do that and that Apple's approach is always to do data analysis on client devices, never in the cloud).

Considering how big apple is, how many employees the have, and how much they earn, seems ludicrous they would farm sensitive user data to a third party contractor. What exactly are we paying for?

 

[Sodium Chloride]

This is why I turn off Siri and why I won’t buy Alexa or the like. The very idea of having a machine that constantly listening to its surrounding is very creepy.

 

[dilbert99]

This is really bad if correct and Apple lied about the

What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone

I always thought that Apple didn't get to hear what people are saying until the "Hey Siri" action words were spoken then the speech is uploaded to cloud to analyze before sending back a response. So how do they manage to get recordings of sex and drug deals?

Hey Siri, start listening to my sex session

or Hey Siri, is this drug deal good value?

 

[killhippie]

Siri has gone off sometimes without anyone saying anything I think once, so maybe some music might have triggered it, but Saturday I was just double checking the MAC addresses I was putting in DHCP reservation in my new router, so I was reading them out loud to myself and Siri said "I didn't catch that" when I said A8 which sounds nothing like 'hey Siri' Not sure I like the response Siri gives to "Hey Siri stop spying on me" as the reply is "nope"

 

[adrianlondon]

Well this is disappointing to read. Next headline I read will be that Apple has given iPhone backdoor access to the CIA. Disabling Siri.

"Hey Siri!"

*gruff voice sounding like it's coming from inside a van* "Yeah?"

 

[giebe]

What’s the news exactly? this information is out since months. Bloomberg reported about this in April in an article about Alexa. They already wrote how it works at Apple

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...g-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio

 

[I7guy]

The 3 points here that tarnish Apple's image as a champion of privacy:

1) Not clearly inform customers (remember the battery fiasco, do we have a pattern here?);

2) Outsource the listening for the record analysis (demonstrates Apple's breach of trust for its own defined terms of service);

3) Not offering a simple way to erase data (makes it seem like Apple didn't want customers to know that they have similar initiatives to Google and Amazon for data analysis, even though the company's top-level management makes a point of publicly stating that Apple doesn't do that and that Apple's approach is always to do data analysis on client devices, never in the cloud).

#1 is not about privacy.
#2 the only thing demonstrated is an worker that most probably violated their employment contract
#3 doesn’t turning off Siri erase everything?

 

[ksgant]

But....but...but Google and Alexa.

It’ll be interesting to see how this is spun by the usual defenders.

It'll be interesting to see how this is jumped on by the usual haters too.

 

[IIGS User]

I often ask Alexa off color questions about Jeff Bezos.

I can remember asking Siri where to hide a dead body back when it first came out. We asked it all sort of stupid questions that produce watered down answers now...

 

[Plutonius]

I'm surprised that the contractors are confident that they are getting correct information from Siri given how well it works.

What ordering food might be like using Siri .

 

[Winni]

You misspelled Google there. Though Apple does disclose this it might be a good idea if they also explicitly say humans are the ones listening.

Imagine if Apple were an ad company with a personal assistant *shudders*

Imagine if Apple were a "services" company trying to analyze what "content" --you-- would actually be willing to pay for.

 

[macfacts]

It'll be interesting to see how this is jumped on by the usual haters too.

Interesting indeed.

 

[uwdude]

In today's world, it would be a good idea to assume (probably correctly), that any information that is flowing through your home internet service or cellular service is being stored somewhere. And that most large governments like the US or China or Russia are able to infiltrate your device and listen through the mic or turn on the camera if they want to, no matter what kind of device it is. I know it is disconcerting, but it is the way it is now.

 

[majorsl]

So one report from one anonymous contractor is enough data points to say Apple is just like Google and Amazon in this area?

Why not? The die hard Apple fanboys have taken more on faith with similar reports about Samsung, Google/Android, and anything else that isn't Apple.

While I like Apple's offerings (mostly), even the MacBook Pro I'm typing on with it's incessant need for clean keys, I do not and have never subscribed to the myth that Apple is way above-board when it comes to privacy as compared to others. I think they do as the others do.

 

[Omega Mac]

So, I've never turned Siri on for this very reason, never, almost did once, can I assume it was never one, we're not going to find out it might have been on regardless of your settging, this is what I'm anticipating as the next big reveal.

Off has to mean OFF - otherwise, I feel a class action coming on.

This is why I walked away from Android 5 years ago, Apple has a lot riding on not being ANDROID.

 

[LordVic]

Off has to mean OFF - otherwise, I feel a class action coming on.

WiFi Toggle would like a word with you