Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of using its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people who use their iPhone and other trendy devices.
The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit involving claims that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade
The alleged recordings happened even when people didn't try to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to more likely consumers. interest in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.
The claims about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple's longstanding commitment to protect privacy of its customers – a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve a “basic human right.”
Apple admits no wrongdoing in the settlement, which must still be approved by US District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a court hearing on February 14 in Oakland to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from September 17, 2014, to the end of last year could file claims. Each user could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payout could be reduced or increased, depending on the number of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.
Eligible users will be limited to seeking compensation on a maximum of five devices.
The settlement represents a portion of the $705 billion in profits Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It's also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated it could have required Apple to pay if the company was found to be disrupting wiretapping. and other privacy laws if the case had gone to trial.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit can seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.