Hey Siri, Are You Listening?

Hello all, and welcome back! 

It may be a new year, but it’s a tale as old as time—another company has suffered a multi-million-dollar penalty for privacy violations. I should say alleged violations since this particular case involves a lawsuit settlement. 

One of our stories this week covers Apple’s recent payout of $95 million to settle allegations that Siri recorded consumers without their consent and that Apple then transferred those recordings to advertisers, again without consent. 

I wanted to highlight this story for a few reasons. First, it’s always illuminating to see Apple come under fire for privacy violations since the brand positions itself as the privacy-conscious option for smartphones and other devices. Either that branding serves as cover for data collection, or it’s simply not possible for these large enterprises to fully respect privacy rights across all of their operations (or both). 

It's also interesting how privacy seems so much more relevant when a violation involves physical and IoT devices. When you access a website or enter personal information into an app, it feels a little less real. If your data is then unduly collected and transferred, it feels like it counts a little less since it’s not as real.  

If, however, you have a conversation about how much you love fishing or how much you hate your tech overlords in the privacy of your own home and that conversation is surreptitiously recorded and transferred to a third-party, it feels like your privacy has been violated to a much greater degree.  

Functionally, there’s little difference—but businesses should be aware of consumers’ subjective sensitivity to privacy violations when physical hardware and IoT devices are involved. 

Best, 

Arlo 

Highlights from Osano

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Top Privacy Stories of the Week

Texas Moves to Rein in Artificial Intelligence 

Texas Representative Giovanni Capriglione has filed House Bill 1709, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA), a proposal to establish ethical and practical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Texas. The legislation seeks to position Texas as a leader in responsible innovation while addressing concerns about AI’s rapid integration into everyday life. 

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California’s Revised Data Broker Regulations Took Effect on December 27 

The California Privacy Protection Agency’s (CPPA) new data broker regulations took effect on December 27, 2024. They are now in effect during the CPPA’s annual data broker registration period, which lasts from January 1 to January 31, 2025. Any business that operated as a data broker in 2024 is required to register during this period. 

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Stakeholders Consider Impacts as India's Draft DPDPA Rules Arrive 

The Indian government recently released draft regulations to operationalize its Digital Personal Data Protection Act. These draft rules were only approved during the final weeks of 2024, though businesses will have time to become compliant as the rules covering operational requirements and the rights of citizens under the law will not enter into force for upward of two years. 

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FTC Sounds the Alarm Over AI and Risk of Harm to Consumers 

In a recent article, the Federal Trade Commission highlighted AI’s potential for and real-world instances of harm—from incentivizing commercial surveillance to enabling fraud and impersonation to perpetuating illegal discrimination—and additionally provided guidance on how organizations could reduce the likelihood of AI-facilitated harm. 

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Apple to Pay $95 Million to Settle Lawsuit Accusing Siri of Eavesdropping 

Five years ago, plaintiffs issued a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the company surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade. Now, Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle the suit. Allegedly, Apple’s products had recorded users even when they didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted. 

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