Siri scandal returns: Apple under fresh investigation in France

Apple is now forced to face another probe into the collection of voice recordings by Siri. The Paris public prosecutor has now opened an investigation into the issue, years after the 2019 events. 

Paris prosecutor opens investigation into Siri recordings 

Back in 2019, Apple was under fire after the discovery that recordings from Siri were sent to third-party contractors for quality control purposes. Now, some six years later, France has decided to dig into it. 

The investigation is being led by the OFAC cybercrime agency. The source of the complaint was initially filed in February by the French NGO Ligue des droits de l'Homme. 

Everything is based on the testimony of Thomas Le Bonniec. This is the whistleblower who caused all the scrutiny of Apple's practices. He was a contractor for Globe Technical Services in Ireland and was reportedly dealing with the recordings. 

The situation with Siri recordings 

Reportedly, recordings that were not easily interpreted by Siri were anonymized and sent off for analysis by contractors. The claims basically frame the recordings as being made to help Apple improve the quality of responses from Siri. 

However, the whistleblowing hinted that the recordings reportedly revealed confidential and personal information and moments to contractors. Including, apparently, doctors discussing medical histories, as well as other private events. All were allegedly recorded because Siri was accidentally and unintentionally triggered in some way.

Apple was also criticized for not explicitly disclosing to consumers that recordings were being passed to contractors. On the other hand, Cupertino had been telling users that some queries were manually reviewed for years. The complaints are focusing on the lack of clearer disclosure of this, though. 

Le Bonniec believes that it still has to be determined how many recordings there have been since 2014, how many people are affected, as well as where Apple is storing the data. 

Meanwhile, Apple representatives insist that the Cupertino giant has never used Siri data to create marketing profiles, it's never made it available for advertising, and has never sold it to anyone for any reason. 

Investigations are not done with the Siri issue

I think that the resurfacing of this controversy after Apple settled the case in the U.S. shows that people are not ready to give up on the topic just yet. 

It highlights the ongoing concerns around privacy and transparency in the way tech companies handle user data. Even years after the initial revelations, questions about how personal information is collected, stored, and reviewed remain important to users, regulators, and privacy advocates alike.

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