Imran Rahman-Jones
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
This is to do with Siri, the voice activated smart assistant that is on lots of Apple devices, their watches, iPhones, iPads, etc. Most people with smart speakers or other devices know you have to give it an activation word in order for it to start listening and then you can give it your commands. In this case, it's, hey, Siri. What the claimants say is that
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
they hadn't said those words and it started listening into their conversations without their permission. The way these class action lawsuits work is there's a small number of plaintiffs who bring the case to the court. So among those in the court documents, one of the lead plaintiffs, a woman called Fumiko Lopez in California, who says she and her daughter were both recorded.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
And the evidence they give is they were talking about specific products. So a something like Air Jordans, which they give in the court documents, the Nike trainers. They were talking about that. They then alleged that they were recorded by Apple and then they were served targeted ads to do with those specific shoes.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
Another example given in the court papers is of a man who had a conversation with his doctor about a specific type of surgery, which they were considering. And he said he'd never searched this on his devices before. But once he'd had that conversation with the doctor, then adverts to do with this specific type of surgery then started coming up on his devices.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
And he says that's evidence that he was being listened to, in this case by his Apple Watch.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
So Apple have offered to pay US$95 million to settle the case. It still needs a judge in the court in Northern California to accept it and for it to go through. But if it does in February, then it would mean that Apple payout seems a huge amount of money, but it's over a few million people who would be eligible to claim. That's how these class action lawsuits work.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
So it would end up being probably about $20 per person per device. But as part of that settlement, Apple would deny any wrongdoing at all and say, that any claims that it recorded, disclosed to third parties or failed to delete conversations without consent would be denied.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
Like you say, Apple put user privacy front and center of lots of its marketing, and it's a way that it tries to distinguish itself against its rivals. So if anything was to come out, and it hasn't yet, that they were listening in to people without their... consent, then that would be a big blow to them.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
Like you also say, $95 million is a lot of money, but they made $95 billion in just three months up to the end of September last year. So we're talking about a tiny amount.