Hey Siri! Stop recording and sharing my private conversations | Roisin Kiberd

Voice assistants have a dark side, and we may be paying for their limited benefits with our privacyA news story in the Guardian last week confirmed what many Apple users likely already suspected: Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, has the power to record private conversations, and these audio clips aren’t always just stored on a server – a number of samples are passed along to third-party, human contractors who are paid to listen to them.This isn’t as simple as a voice assistant “spying” on its users: the report revealed that Apple’s contractors listen to the clips as part of the company’s quality control measures, working out whether Siri was triggered accidentally or on purpose, and whether its response was entirely correct. This practice is not explicit in Apple’s customer-facing privacy documentation, and due to errors in triggering Siri – “the sound of a zip”, the whistleblower said, can often set Siri off – contractors end up overhearing private conversations including drug deals, business meetings, sex and private medical appointments. Continue reading…
Via: Hey Siri! Stop recording and sharing my private conversations | Roisin Kiberd