Apple Hit with Class Action After Revelation that Contractors Listen in on Siri Recordings Without Consent [UPDATE]
Last Updated on February 11, 2021
Lopez et al. v. Apple Inc.
Filed: August 7, 2019 ◆§ 5:19-cv-04577
In the wake of a reveal report from the Guardian, Apple faces a proposed class action that alleges its contractors listen to conversations recorded through Siri without consent.
Case Updates
February 11, 2021 – Lawsuit Dismissed; Plaintiffs Can Try Again
The proposed class action detailed on this page has been dismissed with permission to file an amended suit.
In a 22-page order, filed February 10, 2021 and found here, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White granted Apple’s motion to toss the lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently allege they lost money or property or that their communications were plausibly intercepted or disclosed and missed the mark entirely with regard to alleged violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Invasion of Privacy Act, the Federal Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act.
The court agreed with Apple in characterizing the plaintiffs’ theory of harm as “overly speculative,” in part because of the “conclusory fashion” in which the plaintiffs based their claims entirely on a 2019 article published by the Guardian.
The plaintiffs have 20 days from February 10 to file an amended complaint.
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A July 2019 report from The Guardian over how Apple contractors “regularly hear confidential details” by listening to Siri recordings has sparked a proposed class action lawsuit against Apple over consumer privacy concerns.
The 20-page case out of California’s Northern District states that Apple’s Siri voice-recognition software is only supposed to record sound preceded by the utterance of the wake phrase “Hey Siri” or a specific gesture, such as pressing the home button on a Siri-enabled device. Moreover, the suit says, California law prohibits the recording of oral communications without the consent of all parties involved.
The suit argues that consumers, including minors, who have bought, used or interacted with Siri-enabled Apple devices have not consented to have conversations that were not preceded by “Hey Siri” or an activation gesture recorded. Heavily citing the Guardian report, the lawsuit further says that many of the recordings overheard by Apple’s contractors were made without the knowledge of the individuals being recorded. Apple, according to the complaint, “knows that unauthorized recordings are common” yet has not informed consumers that they are “regularly being recorded without consent.”
“Apple has sold millions of Siri Devices to consumers during the Class Period,” the case states. “Many of these consumers would not have bought their Siri Devices if they had known Apple was recording their conversations without consent.”
The proposed class may cover all individuals who were recorded by a Siri-enabled device without consent from at least as early as October 12, 2011 through the present. Also proposed is a subclass of those who are or were a minor child and were recorded by a Siri device during that time period.
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