Apple Pays $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit: NPR

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, talks about Siri during a new product announcement at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, on June 4, 2018.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit that accuses the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, Calif., would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit that centered on allegations that Apple secretly enabled Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.

The alleged recordings took place even when people did not seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an effort to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit alleged.

The accusations of a snoopy Siri belied Apple’s longstanding commitment to protecting its customers’ privacy — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a basic human right.”

Apple does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which must still be approved by US District Judge Jeffrey White. Attorneys in the case have proposed scheduling a Feb. 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.

If the settlement is approved, tens of thousands of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from September 17, 2014 to the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment may be reduced or increased depending on the extent of the claim. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court filings.

Eligible consumers will be limited to seeking compensation for a maximum of five units.

The settlement represents a slice of the $705 billion in profits Apple has raked in since September 2014. It’s also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that attorneys representing consumers had estimated Apple could be ordered to pay pay if the company had been found to violate wiretapping. and other privacy laws, the case had gone to trial.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.