{"id":49588,"date":"2025-10-09T13:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=49588"},"modified":"2025-10-09T13:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:52:18","slug":"french-siri-spying-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/09\/french-siri-spying-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"French Siri Spying Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Océane Herrero<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The investigation, led by the country’s cybercrime agency OFAC, follows a complaint in February by the French NGO Ligue des droits de l’Homme<\/em>, based on the testimony of a whistleblower and former employee of an Apple subcontractor Thomas Le Bonniec.<\/p>

As an employee of Globe Technical Services in Ireland in 2019, Le Bonniec analyzed recordings made by Siri to improve the quality of the voice assistant’s responses. That involved listening to thousands of user recordings, which Le Bonniec said could reveal intimate moments and confidential information, and could be used to identify users.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

The February complaint also paved the way for an ongoing class action in France. That was inspired by a class action in the United States, which saw Apple accused of recording private conversations without consumers’ knowledge. Apple agreed in December 2024 to settle the case for $95 million. The company denied any wrongdoing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Via John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Sending recorded Siri voice interactions to Apple is<\/em> opt-in, and the opt-in screen is very clear and cogent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

That’s the case today, but it seems like this investigation is based on the same time period as the American lawsuit. Back then, it was not<\/em> clear to customers that the recordings were retained and used outside of Apple, and the generic iOS opt-out control did not<\/em> affect Siri recordings. Apple later added a Siri-specific opt-out switch, and then made it opt-in. Here Apple’s response<\/a> from January. I wish Apple had not settled the lawsuit<\/a> then because it made them look like they had something to hide. Le Bonniec is called a whistleblower. Does he have any new information, or is the French lawsuit just piggybacking and trying to get its own settlement?<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n