A report yesterday from The Guardian placed Apple and Siri in the middle of privacy concerns over voice activated assistants. The report claimed that Apple contractors listen to Siri audio as part of its efforts to improve performance, and oftentimes hear sensitive conversations.
Apple defended the efforts in a statement, saying that “less than 1% of daily Siri activations” are used for grading. What do you think of this revelation?
The report detailed that many of the things heard by these reviewers are accidental activations of Siri – including private medical conversations, criminal dealings, and more. Recordings are also said to include location and contact details, as well as app data:
Furthermore, the people responsible for listening to and grading Siri responses are subcontractors, and yesterday’s report said that “there’s a high turnover” among this team.
In its statement, Apple said that Siri requests used for “grading” are not linked to any user’s Apple ID. It also noted that reviewers of the audio are held to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements:
On Sixcolors, Jason Snell makes a strong case for at least having an “opt out” process – or making this sort of Siri “grading” opt-in:
I largely agree with Snell’s argument in this situation. If Apple finds it necessary to listen to Siri queries to improve the service, that’s fine, but at least give me the ability to opt-out. Apple notes in its Siri privacy policy that users can turn off features like Location Services for Siri or turn off Siri altogether, but this isn’t the full solution.
What do you think of this situation? Are you ok with Apple listening to Siri queries in an effort to improve the service’s performance? Let us know in the poll below and down in the comments.
