iPhone bug secretly recorded people’s Siri conversations and sent them to Apple
Apple accidentally scooped up Siri recordings from iPhone users regardless of whether people wanted them to or not.
The smartphone giant was forced to fix a bug in iOS 15 that automatically enabled a setting that gave Apple the ability to record, store, and review conversations users had with its digital voice assistant.
Apple told ZDNet, which first reported the news, that it had deleted any recordings that had been taken.
The bug, which affected “many” Siri users on iOS 15.2, was fixed in a subsequent update. In iOS 15.4, users are now asked whether they want to opt-in or out of Apple’s monitoring.
"With iOS 15.2, we turned off the Improve Siri & Dictation setting for many Siri users while we fixed a bug introduced with iOS 15. This bug inadvertently enabled the setting for a small portion of devices. Since identifying the bug, we stopped reviewing and are deleting audio received from all affected devices”, Apple said in a statement.
Apple did not reveal how many people were affected or when the issue began.
This is not the first time that Siri recordings have been listened to by Apple without users’ knowledge.
In 2019, the company was accused of a “massive violation of the privacy of millions of citizens” by Apple whistleblower Thomas le Bonniec after it was revealed that contractors listened to users’ recordings without their consent.
Mr Le Bonniec, who was hired by one of Apple’s subcontractors in Ireland called Globe Technical Services, had to listen to recordings from users and correct transcription errors. Listening to hundreds of recordings from Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, many of them were taken “outside of any activation of Siri” – meaning that users were not aware of the action.
In response, Apple fired 300 workers with only one week’s notice and said it was reviewing its audio program. Mr Le Bonniec said that “nothing has been done to verify if Apple actually stopped the programme.”
When questioned by The Independent, Apple did not provide a statement – instead directing media to its its August Newsroom post from 2019 and its Ask Siri Dictation & Privacy support page.
