Apple under investigation in France over Siri recordings / Depositphotos
Apple is currently facing a formal probe in France regarding the handling and safekeeping of voice recordings obtained through its Siri digital assistant.
According to Delo.ua, Bloomberg broke the news.
The inquiry centers on Apple’s manner of gathering user audio through Siri, which is accessible on the majority of the company’s devices. Apple’s policy stipulates that utilizing this function is contingent upon acquiring prior user authorization and serves the purpose of refining the service.
The central contention, however, is that this information may be kept for up to a couple of years and scrutinized by “evaluators,” or subcontractors engaged by the company.
The Paris prosecutor’s office communicated on Monday that the probe was being reassigned to the Cybercrime Unit.
This inquiry arises from a complaint lodged earlier in the year by Ligue des droits de l’Homme, a French organization dedicated to human rights. The complaint was reinforced by the account of Thomas le Bonyec, an ex-Apple subcontractor located in Ireland, who openly confessed to examining private user data, notably recordings of discussions involving cancer patients.
Apple's position
An Apple spokesperson opted to abstain from further elucidation, pointing to a blog entry released by the company in January.
Inside this blog post, Apple asserted that it “does not retain audio data from Siri interactions unless users explicitly consent to assist in the betterment of Siri, and even then, such recordings are utilized exclusively for that goal.”
The investigation into Apple highlights France’s unyielding stance on dominant U.S. tech enterprises, Bloomberg indicated. The nation has in the past initiated antitrust investigations and enforced a digital services tax, which elicited condemnation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who branded the levy as discriminatory and cautioned about potential U.S. tariffs.
Recently, Apple requested that EU antitrust regulators revoke regulations recently enacted for major tech firms, contending that these rules, intended to safeguard digital consumers, in reality, present perils to their privacy and jeopardize innovation.
