Applehas issued a formal apology for employing human contractors to listen to audio recordings of its users talking to Siri.
The company said these contractors were meant to improve users' experiences with its digital assistant. However, now that the media has revealed this practice, sparking privacy concerns among users across the world, Apple is admitting it didn’t live up to its “high ideals”. Actions speak louder than words, though, right?
So, in that case, Apple is making several changes toSiri’s privacy policy.
Why is Apple sorry?
Apple was recently caught using human contractors to review recordings from Siri - something it never made explicitly clear to customers. The Guardian said those contractors had access to voice clips that were often recorded due to accidental Siri triggers. Workers reportedly listened to up to 1,000 recordings a day, and many of the clips were long enough to hear private information.
Apple called this process “human grading of Siri requests”. Keep in mindGoogle, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsofthave also all recently been caught using human contractors to review recordings from their assistants, apps, and services.
How is Siri’s privacy policy changing?
Apple said it now plans to change Siri’s privacy policy. Here’s how:
Previously, Apple didn’t make clear who or what was listening to Siri recordings. It would also keep recordings for up to six months, after which it would remove identifying information and would keep them for two years or more. Now, Apple will no longer keep audio recordings from Siri unless a user opts-in, and then in those instances, only Apple employees will have access (rather than contractors).
The company will also attempt to delete recordings of accidental triggers.
When will this change happen?
Apple has halted Siri grading. It plans to resume this autumn - after its new privacy policy and a software update are rolled out to users.
