Apple says Siri protects user privacy, doesn't send their information to marketers

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Apple clarified that its virtual personal assistant Siri protects does not send user information to marketers.

The statement Wednesday came days after Apple offered $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging Siri violates user privacy by activating unintentionally and recording private conversations, which leads to targeted advertising.

"Apple has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it to anyone for any purpose. We are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private, and will continue to do so," Apple said in its statement.

Apple's Wednesday statement said Siri is designed to do as much processing as possible on the devices themselves, "allowing for personalized experiences without having to transfer and analyze personal information on Apple servers."

Apple also claimed it minimizes the amount of data collected for Siri requests and that Siri searches and requests are not associated with individual users Apple accounts.

That lawsuit was filed in 2019 and it cited examples of Siri's surreptitious recordings, claiming Siri often recorded conversations and other private activities including sexual relations.

The suit claimed that unintended Siri recordings violated their privacy despite Apple's marketing claims of privacy being respected.

Siri is supposed to only activate when users say, "Hey Siri."

But according to the class action lawsuit, Siri sometimes activates upon detecting similar words or even just sounds like zippers opening and closing as well as other background noises.

Apple device users are essentially carrying a surveillance recording device every day and making their homes available to possible surreptitious recordings, trusting in Apple to not allow it to violate privacy.

One plaintiff in the lawsuit said after discussing a surgical procedure with his doctor, he received advertisements for surgical treatments by medical services brands.

On Wednesday, company also attempted to reassure users concerned about privacy that Apple Intelligence is "designed to protect users' privacy at every step."

"We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and we will continue our relentless focus on designing our products and services to protect it," Apple said.