Three months after being the target of a complaint for violation of privacy, Apple is the subject of a collective procedure in France: users of its voice assistant Siri, accused of abusive listening, can join it as of Tuesday, May 13, reports Le Parisien, today. Last February, the Human Rights League (LDH) had already filed a complaint against the Apple brand in France for similar acts: the association relied on a whistleblower who worked for an Apple subcontractor in Ireland.
This is not the first time that the giant has been targeted by collective proceedings. In the United States, Apple was the target of a similar action. In the country, the American firm was also accused of listening to its users' conversations – conversations that were allegedly recorded without their knowledge by the Siri voice assistant, according to the authors of the action. Last January, the Cupertino giant agreed to pay nearly $95 million to end the collective proceedings, initiated five years earlier.
A refund for each Apple device requested, at a minimum
In France, Apple users with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or AirPods less than 10 years old will be able to join the brand new procedure by registering on the website: ecoutesabusives.fr. For lawyers, the objective of this action, which will be initiated before the summer before the Paris judicial court, is to obtain, at a minimum, a refund for each Apple device. Additional compensation could be requested in certain cases, such as that of a doctor bound by medical confidentiality.
After reviewing the files, a formal notice will be sent. If Apple rejects the proposed amicable settlement, legal action will indeed be taken, explain the three lawyers, including Eva Naudon and Olivia Roche, lawyers from the Phaos firm. For Julien Bayou, a former Green Party MP and the third lawyer in the collective proceedings, "If Apple wanted to train its voice assistant with conversations, it should have clearly asked users for permission. But he didn't do it," he declared in the columns of Le Parisien.
Siri interactions recorded only if the user explicitly consents, declares Apple
An argument already developed in the complaint last February from the LDH, which attacked the American firm for violation of privacy, illicit processing of personal data and deceptive commercial practice, revealed Le Monde and the investigation unit of Radio France. No "informed" consent from users was sought or collected before recordings of conversations, which are, in themselves, collections of personal information, the authors of the complaint explained at the time. This consent is, however, a prerequisite imposed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within the European Union.
"Apple's eavesdropping via its voice assistant "Siri" without users' knowledge may constitute violations of personal data regulations, such as the GDPR," write the authors of the collective procedure on their website.
Last February, Apple confirmed to us, in reference to the collective procedure taking place in the United States, that the group does not keep audio recordings of Siri interactions unless the user explicitly consents. And in such a case, these recordings are only used to improve Siri, the American company specified, adding that users can reverse their decision at any time.
Already in 2019, The Guardian revealed a scandal involving the recording and transcription of conversations, including when Siri was not intentionally activated. At the time, Apple had suspended its Siri rating program.
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