Apple reaffirms privacy as a tentpole feature in Siri after lawsuit settlement
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Apple isn't using Siri data for ad revenue. While affected customers await their $20, Apple has shared a statement on how it handles user data in regard to Siri, reaffirming that voice recordings aren't being used to sell you Air Jordans. Apple released Siri in 2011 as the first built-in smart assistant for smartphones. From that moment through to today, the company has asserted that users maintain absolute privacy while using the digital assistant.
However, it wouldn't be the United States if stories about contractors hearing conversations via Siri recordings didn't turn into a class action lawsuit. Despite the frivolity of the lawsuit, based around users claiming Apple was selling voice recordings to ad agencies so they would see ads for shoes, it ultimately ended in a settlement.
An update on Apple's newsroom seems to be a direct response to the settlement, even if it isn't said explicitly. Apple didn't make much public comment on the case, and it asserts that user data wasn't sold or used for the alleged purposes even though it agreed to settle.
To be clear, Siri data has never been used for advertising, your phone isn't "listening" to you, and Apple's commitment to privacy isn't secretly a ploy to get users to let their guard down. Listening to users speak through their devices might actually be the least efficient way to learn about them.
Devices with "Hey Siri" turned on listen for the wake word using a simple waveform analysis that throws out data as it arrives until the wake word is observed. A few seconds ahead of and after the end of a command is processed to provide whatever the user is asking.
